Sally Kellerman

Sally Clare Kellerman (June 2, 1937 – February 24, 2022) was an American actress whose acting career spanned 60 years. Her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in Robert Altman's film M*A*S*H earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. After M*A*S*H, she appeared in a number of the director's projects, namely the films Brewster McCloud (1970), Welcome to L.A. (1976) (produced by Altman, directed by his protégé, Alan Rudolph), The Player (1992), and Prêt-à-Porter (1994), and the short-lived anthology TV series Gun (1997). In addition to her work with Altman, Kellerman appeared in films such as Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972), Back to School (1986), plus many television series such as The Twilight Zone (1963), The Outer Limits (1963 and 1965), Star Trek (1966), Bonanza (1966, 1970), The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman (2006), 90210 (2008), Chemistry (2011), and Maron (2013). She also voiced Miss Finch in Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985), which went on to become one of her most significant voice roles.

At age 18, Kellerman signed a recording contract with Verve Records, but her first album (Roll with the Feelin on the Decca label) was not recorded until 1972. A second album Sally was released in 2009. Kellerman also contributed songs to the soundtracks for Brewster McCloud (1970), Lost Horizon (1973), Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975), and Boris and Natasha: The Movie (1992).

Kellerman did commercial voiceover work for Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing, Mercedes-Benz, and Revlon. Kellerman's voice acting work included The Mouse and His Child (1977), Happily Ever After (1990), Dinosaurs (1992), Unsupervised (2012), and The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange (2013). In 2013, she released her memoir Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life, describing her trials and tribulations in the entertainment business.

Early life Kellerman was born in Long Beach, California, on June 2, 1937 to Edith Baine (née Vaughn), a piano teacher from Portland, Arkansas, During her sophomore year of high school, the Kellermans moved from San Fernando to Park La Brea, Los Angeles, where she attended Hollywood High School. She grew to stand . Due to her shyness, she made few friends and received poor grades (except in choir and physical education) but appeared in a school production of Meet Me in St. Louis. and enrolled in Jeff Corey's acting class. Towards the end of the 1950s, Kellerman joined the newly opened Actors Studio West and debuted before the camera in the film, Reform School Girl (1957). To pay Corey's instruction fees, among other employment, Kellerman worked as a waitress at the Chez Paulette coffee house

Career 1960s Kellerman made a number of television-series appearances. She was in an episode of the western Cheyenne, as well as a role as a waitress in the John Forsythe sitcom Bachelor Father. Struggling for parts in television and films, Kellerman acted on stage. She debuted in Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People,

Near the end of the decade, Kellerman guest-starred in The Invaders in the episode "Labyrinth" (1968). She also had turns as the severely beaten (and only surviving) victim of Albert DeSalvo in , and Phyllis Brubaker (Jack Lemmon's materialistic wife) in the romantic comedy The April Fools (1969). She turned down a role in Paul Mazursky's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969).

1970s Kellerman received her breakthrough role (Major Margaret "Hot Lips" O’Houlihan in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H) in 1970. Her performance received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, winning the Kansas City Film Critics Circle (KCFCC) Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Golden Laurel for Best Comedy Performance (Female), and a second-place National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) Award for Best Supporting Actress. Kellerman was featured in Life magazine. She again collaborated with Altman in Brewster McCloud as Louise, guardian angel to Bud Cort, and recorded "Rock-a-Bye Baby" for the film's soundtrack.

Her next role was as a hostile, chain-smoking, sex-addicted woman who was trying to have an afternoon affair with Alan Arkin's character in Gene Saks' film adaptation of Neil Simon's comedy Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972). In Manhattan after the film, Kellerman declined an offer for a ten-page spread in Vogue from the then editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella.

In October 1975, Kellerman sang at the legendary Greenwich Village cabaret Reno Sweeney, and performed two shows nightly at the Rainbow Grill from November 25 to December 14. Her next appearance was as Sybil Crane (a woman in the midst of a divorce) in The Big Bus, a parody of disaster films, followed by a role as a lonely real estate agent in the Alan Rudolph-directed and Altman-produced Welcome to L.A. (both 1976). The next year, Kellerman appeared in a week-long run of cabaret concerts beginning at the Grand Finale club on May 2. Songs that evening included versions of Leon Russell and Betty Everett hits.

At the end of the decade, Kellerman's roles included Maureen, a veteran vaudevillian, in Verna: USO Girl (1978); Veronica Sterling, a party-addicted socialite, in the made-for-television film She'll Be Sweet (1978); and Lise Bockweiss—one of several wives of Pasquinel (Robert Conrad) and daughter of Herman Bockweiss (Raymond Burr)—in the 12-episode miniseries Centennial (1978–1979). Kellerman played Kay King, the pretentious and kooky mother of a lovelorn daughter (Diane Lane), in George Roy Hill's A Little Romance (1979).

1980s

Kellerman began the decade as Mary, a divorced middle-aged suburban mother struggling to raise her rebellious daughter (Jodie Foster) in Adrian Lyne's Foxes (1980); Martha, a six-times-married eccentric, in Bill Persky's Serial, and the silly-but-sophisticated Mrs. Liggett in Jack Smight's Loving Couples. Her later roles included Mary, a child psychiatrist in a sadomasochistic relationship with a psychology professor (Stephen Lackman) after they meet by accident (literally) in Michael Grant's Head On, and a 1920s socialite in Kirk Browning's made-for-television film adaptation of Dorothy Parker's 1929 short story Big Blonde (both 1980). From October 3 to November 15, 1980, Kellerman starred as Julia Seton in an Ahmanson Theatre production of Philip Barry's Holiday (directed by Robert Allan Ackerman) with Kevin Kline, Maurice Evans, and Marisa Berenson.

On February 7, 1981, Kellerman hosted Saturday Night Live, appearing in four sketches ("Monologue", "The Audition", "Was I Ever Red", and "Lean Acres") and closing the show with Donna Summer's "Starting Over Again". Kellerman's next performances were in made-for-television films. She played the title character's first wife, Maxine Cates, in Dempsey and a honky-tonk dance-hall proprietress in September Gun. That year she also appeared in a stage production, Tom Eyen's R-rated spoof of 1940s women's prison films Women Behind Bars. Kellerman played Gloria, a tough inmate who controls the other prisoners.

Her next roles were a KGB-training-school warden in the made-for-television film, Secret Weapons (1985); the sadomasochistic Judge Nedra Henderson in Moving Violations (1985); Rodney Dangerfield's love interest in Alan Metter's comedy Back to School (1986); Julie Andrews' and Jack Lemmon's eccentric neighbor in Blake Edwards' That's Life (1986); a porn star trying to get into heaven in Meatballs III: Summer Job (1986); Kerri Green's mother in Three for the Road (1987), and an actress in Henry Jaglom's Someone to Love. Late in the decade, Kellerman planned to release her second album, which would have included "It's Good to Be Bad, It's Bad to Be Good" from 1992's Boris and Natasha: The Movie (which she produced and starred in as Natasha Fatale); however, the album never was released.

1990s In 1992, there was a fourth collaboration between Kellerman and Altman in The Player, in which she appeared as herself. Supporting roles followed in Percy Adlon's Younger and Younger (1993), Murder She Wrote (1993) and Mirror, Mirror II: Raven Dance (1994), the sequel of the Yvonne De Carlo and Karen Black horror film Mirror, Mirror. The actress appeared in another Altman film, Prêt-à-Porter (1994), as Sissy Wanamaker, editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar, with Tracey Ullman and Linda Hunt. During filming, Altman flew Kellerman and co-star Lauren Bacall from Paris for his tribute at Lincoln Center. From April 18 to May 21, 1995, Kellerman played the title role in the Maltz Jupiter Theatre production of Mame. Around this time, Kellerman appeared in back-to-back plays in Boston and Edmonton. In Boston, she played Martha in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and starred as Mary Jane Dankworth in a two-month, two-character production of Lay of the Land with Michael Hogan in Edmonton.

Kellerman appeared in the 1998 Columbo episode "Ashes to Ashes". On June 10, 1999, Kellerman joined actresses Kathleen Turner and Beverly Peele in a Planned Parenthood press conference supporting a proposed law introduced to the U.S. Congress.

2000s At the beginning of the century, Kellerman appeared in Canon Theatre's production of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues with Teri Hatcher and Regina Taylor. This was followed by a cabaret show at Feinstein's at the Regency, which opened with Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman". Other songs ranged from Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were" to "We Shall Overcome" and "America the Beautiful". In March 2002, Kellerman performed in Los Angeles' What a Pair, a benefit for breast cancer research, joining singer-songwriter Julia Fordham for "Why Can't I". That year, the actress also played protagonist Judge Marcia Blackwell in the made-for-television film Verdict in Blood. This was followed by another cabaret show, produced by Hal David, at the Palmdale Playhouse. Songs included Etta James' "Sunday Kind of Love" and "Long Way From St. Louis". An album (Body Parts) was planned, but never released.

In the summer of 2004, Kellerman played host Madame ZinZanni in Teatro ZinZanni. That year she also received the Susan B. Anthony "Failure is Impossible" Award, honoring women in the film industry who have overcome adversity, at the High Falls Film Festival. Kellerman returned to the stage for a second What a Pair concert, joining actress Lauren Frost for "I'm Past My Prime". The next year, she played Dolores Montoya in Blank Theatre Company's Los Angeles revival of The Wild Party, followed by the sexually-provocative Sandy in Susan Seidelman's Boynton Beach Club. Kellerman sang Cole Porter's "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" with actress, singer and songwriter Kathleen "Bird" York at her third (and final) What a Pair concert. In 2006 the actress appeared as herself in the first episode of the IFC's The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, "A Cult Classic".

In September 2008, Kellerman recorded a duet with Ray Brown Jr. (son of Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Brown), "I Thought About You", for Brown's duet CD Friends and Family. In 2009, Kellerman released a jazz and blues album, Sally, her first since Roll with the Feelin. Sally featured interpretations of songs by Linda Ronstadt, Kim Carnes, Aerosmith, Nina Simone, the Motels, Neil Diamond, Jackson Browne, Marvin Gaye, Dolly Parton, Jennifer Warnes, and James Taylor. That year she played a recurring role as Lola (an eccentric artist) in Cinemax's sexually explicit comedy-drama series Chemistry, followed by guest appearances on the CW teen drama series 90210 as Marla, an aging Hollywood actress with dementia who considers assisted suicide. On July 7, 2012, Kellerman appeared with Tito Ortiz, Cary Elwes, and Drake Bell in an episode of the Biography Channel's Celebrity Ghost Stories.

On April 30, 2013, the actress released her memoir, Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life, published by Weinstein Books. In the book, she remembered a close-knit, family-oriented past Hollywood and her triumphs and tribulations as an actress during the 1960s. Kellerman made promotional book-signing appearances in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Manhattan, and Jersey City. Shortly afterward, she appeared as Marc Maron's bohemian mother in the "Dead Possum" episode of his comedy series.

Kellerman later received a Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) Lifetime Achievement Award at Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The ceremony, which included a montage of her work and an audience question-and-answer session, was moderated by film historian Foster Hirsch. In September 2013 filmmaker Ellen Houlihan released a short film Joan's Day Out, in which Kellerman played a grandmother who escapes from her assisted-living facility to bail her teenage granddaughter out of prison. The actress joined the Love Can Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of low income families and their children, in February 2014. Kellerman made a return appearance in the second season of Maron in the episode "Mom Situation", and as part of an Epix Network documentary celebrating the life of Robert Altman on August 6, 2014.

In October 2014, TVLine announced that Kellerman had been cast in the mysterious role of Constance Bingham on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy as Best Actress in a Guest Role. In 2016, she continued her recurring role on Maron and played in five episodes of the new series Decker.

Personal life In 1961, Kellerman underwent a botched home abortion, and went to a hospital for the first time (due to her Christian Science upbringing). The relationship that had caused her terminated pregnancy was with bit actor William Duffy.

After the release of MASH, on December 17, 1970, Kellerman married future Starsky & Hutch producer Rick Edelstein. Anjanette Comer, Joanne Linville, and Luana Anders were among her bridesmaids. "We've fought every day since we've met," she said at the time.

In 1967, Kellerman's sister came out as a lesbian and separated from her husband, Ian Charles Cargill Graham, who took full custody of the couple's daughter. After she moved to France with her partner, she did not communicate with her daughter for eight years. In her autobiography, Kellerman made a point to note that her romance with Byrnes was never consummated. The couple adopted newborn twins. The family relocated to Jupiter, Florida in 1991. After encountering financial difficulties, they sold their condo there in 2008 and moved back to Hollywood.

Jonathan Krane died of a heart attack on August 1, 2016, aged 64. Their adopted daughter died less than four months later.

Kellerman and Krane separated twice during their 36-year marriage, first for a few months in 1994, then again during 1997–98 over Krane's public affair with Nastassja Kinski. As Kellerman had dated married men in the past, she forgave her husband for the affair. At the time of her death, she had dementia.

Filmography

Year TitleRole Notes 1957 Reform School Girl Marcia 1962 Hands of a Stranger Sue 1965 The Third Day Holly Mitchell 1968 The Boston Strangler Dianne Cluny 1969 The April Fools Phyllis Brubaker 1970 M*A*S*H Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan Brewster McCloud Louise1971VenusSelfDocumentary 1972 Last of the Red Hot Lovers Elaine Navazio A Reflection of Fear Anne 1973 Slither Kitty Kopetzky Lost Horizon Sally Hughes 1975 Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins Mackinley Beachwood 1976 The Big Bus Sybil Crane Welcome to L.A. Ann Goode 1977 The Mouse and His Child The Seal Voice 1979 A Little Romance Kay King 1980 Foxes Mary It Rained All Night the Day I Left The Colonel Serial Martha Head On Michelle Keys 1985 Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird Miss Finch Voice Moving Violations Judge Nedra Henderson KGB: The Secret War Fran Simpson 1986 Back to School Dr. Diane Turner That's Life! Holly Parrish Meatballs III: Summer Job Roxy Dujour 1987 Three for the Road Blanche Someone to Love Edith Helm 1988 You Can't Hurry Love Kelly Bones 1989 Dr. Valerie Ostrow All's Fair Florence Happily Ever After Sunburn Voice 1993 Doppelganger Sister Jan Younger and Younger 'Zig-Zag' Lilian 1994 Mirror, Mirror 2: Raven Dance Roslyn Prêt-à-Porter Sissy Wanamaker 1996 It's My Party Sara Hart 1997 The Lay of the Land Mary Jane Dankworth 1999 American Virgin Quaint 2001 Women Of The Night Mary 2004 Open House Marjorie Milford 2005Boynton Beach Club Sandy 2006 Payback Miss Bronson Voice; Director's Cut2008 Delgo Narrator Voice 2011 Night Club Dorothy 2013 Joan's Day Out Joan Short film 2014 Reach Me Florence 'Flo' When Bette Met Mae Narrator Documentary A Place for Heroes Maureen 2016 His Neighbor Phil Bernadette The Remake Aunt Peg Flycatcher Thelma

Television Year TitleRole Notes 1962 Cheyenne Lottie Durango Episode: "The Durango Brothers" 1963–1964 The Outer Limits Ingrid Larkin Episode: "The Human Factor" Judith Bellero Episode: "The Bellero Shield" 1963 The Twilight Zone Office Worker Episode: "Miniature" The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Miss Winters Episode: "Redecorating Dave's Office" My Three Sons Helga Willamsen Episode: "Steve and the Viking" 1964–1965 12 O'Clock High Lieutenant Libby MacAndrews Episodes: "The Men and the Boys" "Those Who Are About to Die" 1965 The Rogues Elsa Huntington Episode: "God Bless You, G. Carter Huntington" The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Sally Benner Episode: "Thou Still Unravished Bride" Seaway Aline Svenson Episodes: "Bonhomme Richard" 1966 Star Trek Dr. Elizabeth Dehner S1:E3, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" Bonanza Kathleen Walker Episode: "A Dollar's Worth of Trouble" That Girl Sandy Stafford Episode: "Break a Leg" 1967 The Invaders Laura Crowell Episode: "Labyrinth" 1969 Mannix Diana Walker Episode: "The Solid Gold Web" 1970 Bonanza Lotta Crabtree Episode: "Return Engagement" 1978 She'll Be Sweet (aka Magee and the Lady) Veronica Stirling TV film 1978–1979 Centennial Lise Bockweiss Pasquinnel Miniseries 1980 Big Blonde Hazel TV film 1981 Saturday Night Live Herself (host) Episode: "Sally Kellerman/Jimmy Cliff" 1982 For Lovers Only Emmy Pugh TV film 1983 Dempsey Maxine Cates September Gun Mama Queen 1984 Hotel Lauren Webb Episode: "Lifelines" 1985 Secret Weapons Vera Malevich TV film 1986 Tall Tales & Legends Lucy Episode: "Ponce de Leon" 1990 The Ray Bradbury Theater Clara Goodwater Episode: "Excorcism" Evening Shade Shelley Darling Episode: "Hooray for Wood" 1991 Victim of Beauty Evelyn Ash TV film 1992 Boris and Natasha: The Movie Natasha Fatale1993Murder She WroteJunie CobbEpisode: “The Petrified Florist” 1994 Dream On Tracy Episode: "Blinded by the Cheese" 1994, 1998 Diagnosis: Murder Irene Stanton / Adele Botsford Episodes: "Woman Trouble" "Drill for Death" 1995 Kill Shot Counsellor TV film 1997 Gun Frances Episode: "All the President's Women" 1998 Columbo Liz Houston Episode: "Ashes to Ashes" 1999 Norm Kim Episode: "Norm vs. Denby" Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony Narrator TV documentary 2000 Bar Hopping Cassandra TV film 2002 Verdict in Blood Judge Marcia Blackwell Trail of the Cougar Narrator Television Documentary 2006–2007 The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman Herself Episodes: "A Cult Classic" "Yoga Brain" 2009 The Wishing Well Donette TV film 2011 90210 Marla Templeton Episodes: "Nerdy Little Secrets" "Women on the Verge" Chemistry Lola Marquez 12 episodes 2012 Unsupervised Principal Stark (voice) 8 episodes 2013 Workaholics Peggy Episode: "The Worst Generation" The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange Romaine Empress / Marshmallow Queen (voice) 2 episodes Deadtime Stories Grandma Grussler Episode: "Little Magic Shop of Horrors" High School USA! Dolores Barren (voice) 3 episodes 2013–2016 Maron Toni Maron Recurring role 2014 On Cinema Herself Episode: "Second Oscar Special" 2014–2015 The Young and the Restless Constance Bingham 10 episodesEmmy nomination for Best Actress 2015 Comedy Bang! Bang! Hera Episode: "Stephen Merchant Wears a Checkered Shirt and Rolled Up Jeans" 2016–2017 Decker Janet Davidson 7 episodes 2017 Difficult People Joan Gentile Episode: "The Silkwood"

Awards and nominations

Source:

Discography Roll with the Feelin''' (Decca, 1972) Sally (The Music Force, 2009)