Sally Clare Kellerman (June 2, 1937 – February 24, 2022) was an American actress, singer, and author.
Kellerman's acting career spanned over 60 years. Her role as
Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in
Robert Altman's film
M*A*S*H (1970) earned her an Oscar nomination for
Best Actress in a Supporting Role. After
M*A*S*H, she appeared in a number of the director's projects: the films
Brewster McCloud (1970),
Welcome to L.A. (1976) (produced by Altman, directed by his protegé,
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 (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).
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.
[1] 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).
She did commercial voiceover work for
Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing,
Mercedes-Benz, and
Revlon.
[2] Kellerman's animation work included
The Mouse and His Child (1977),
Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985),
Happily Ever After (1990),
Dinosaurs (1992),
Unsupervised (2012), and
The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange (2013). In April 2013, she released her memoir
Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life, describing her trials and tribulations in the entertainment business.
Sally Clare Kellerman
[3] was born in
Long Beach, California, on June 2, 1937,
[4] to Edith Baine (née Vaughn), a piano teacher from
Portland, Arkansas,
[5]: 15 and John "Jack" Helm Kellerman, a
Shell Oil executive from St. Louis, Missouri.
[5]: 16
[3] Sally has an older sister, Diana Dean Kellerman; her younger sister, Victoria Vaughn (Vicky) Kellerman, died in infancy.
[5]: 18 Edith was a
Christian Scientist and raised her daughters in this faith.
[5]: 17–21
When Kellerman was in fifth grade, the family moved from Long Beach to the
San Fernando Valley.
[5]: 29 She spent her early life in then-rural
Granada Hills in a largely unpopulated area surrounded by orange and eucalyptus groves.
[6] 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. Due to her shyness, Kellerman made few friends and received poor grades (except choir and physical education); however, she acted in a school production of
Meet Me in St. Louis.
[5]: 4–5 With the help of a high-school friend, Kellerman submitted a recording demo to
Verve Records founder and head
Norman Granz. After signing a contract with Verve, however, she was daunted by the task of becoming a recording artist and walked away.
[7][5]: 14
Kellerman attended
Los Angeles City College,
[8] and also enrolled in
Jeff Corey's acting class.
[5]: 8 Within a year, she appeared in a production of
John Osborne's
Look Back in Anger staged by Corey and featuring classmates
Shirley Knight,
Jack Nicholson,
Dean Stockwell and
Robert Blake.
[9] Towards the end of the 1950s, Kellerman joined the newly opened
Actors Studio West[10][11] and debuted before the camera in the film,
Reform School Girl (1957).
[12] To pay her tuition, Kellerman worked as a waitress at Chez Paulette.
[5]: 35
The decade found Kellerman making 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,
[5]: 55 followed by parts in a
Pasadena Playhouse production of
Leslie Stevens's
The Marriage-Go-Round and
Michael Shurtleff's
Call Me by My Rightful Name (1962).
[5]: 63
Kellerman and
William Shatner in the
Star Trek episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966)
In 1964, Kellerman played Judith Bellero, the manipulative and ruthless wife of Richard Bellero (played by
Martin Landau), in an episode of
The Outer Limits titled "
The Bellero Shield". A role as Holly Mitchell, perverted mistress of
George Peppard's character in the film
The Third Day (1965), followed. She played leading lady to
David Niven in his television series
The Rogues in 1965 for an episode titled "God Bless You, G. Carter Huntington" which revolved around her striking beauty to a large degree, and appeared in a 1965
Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode titled "Thou Still Unravished Bride."[
citation needed]
A year later, she played psychiatrist Elizabeth Dehner (who studied the long-term effects of space on a crew) in "
Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second pilot for
Star Trek. Three months after that, Kellerman played Mag Wildwood in the original Broadway production of
Breakfast at Tiffany's, directed by
Joseph Anthony and produced by
David Merrick, which closed after four preview performances. Before the closing the musical numbers were recorded live, and she recorded three songs which appeared on the original
cast recording.
[13]
Near the end of the decade, Kellerman guest-starred in
The Invaders in the episode "Labyrinth" (1968), she also played the severely beaten (and only surviving) victim of
Albert DeSalvo in
the Boston Strangler (1968), and Phyllis Brubaker (
Jack Lemmon's materialistic wife) in
The April Fools (1969).
[14] She turned down a role in
Paul Mazursky's
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969).
[5]: 87 She played Eleanor in the
Hawaii Five-O episode "The Big Kahuna" (1969). In a 1971
Life magazine interview, Kellerman remembered her television years: "It took me eight years to get into TV—and six years to get out. Frigid women, alcoholics they gave me. I got beat up, raped, and never played comedy."
[15]
Kellerman received her breakthrough role (Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in
Robert Altman's
M*A*S*H) in 1970. Her performance earned
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.
[16] Kellerman was featured in
Life magazine.
[17] 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.
[18]
The actress's next role was a hostile, chain-smoking, sex-addicted woman who was trying to have an afternoon affair with
Alan Arkin's character in
Gene Saks's film adaptation of
Neil Simon's comedy
Last of the Red Hot Lovers. In Manhattan after the film, Kellerman declined an offer for a ten-page spread in
Vogue by former editor-in-chief
Grace Mirabella.
[5]: 118 When she turned down the part of Linda Rogo in
The Poseidon Adventure (1972),
Stella Stevens got the role.
[5]: 146 Shortly afterwards she recorded her first demo with
Lou Adler, and
Roll with the Feelin for
Decca Records with producer-arranger Gene Paige.
[5]: 144 After filming
Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Kellerman passed up a role in another Altman film:
Quote:I had just finished filming Last of the Red Hot Lovers when Bob called me one day at home. "Sally, do you want to be in my picture after next?" he asked. "Only if it's a good part," I said. He hung up on me. Bob was as stubborn and arrogant as I was at the time, but the sad thing is that I cheated myself out of working with someone I loved so much, someone who made acting both fun and easy and who trusted his actors. Stars would line up to work for nothing for Bob Altman. Oh, the Altman film I turned down? Nashville. In that part I would have been able to sing. Bad choice.[5]: 146
Her next roles included a woman involved in a deadly plot in the
slasher film A Reflection of Fear; an eccentric woman in the
road movie Slither opposite
James Caan, and a tormented journalist in
Charles Jarrott's musical
remake of
Frank Capra's
Lost Horizon (also contributing to the latter's soundtrack). Two years later, she played Mackinley Beachwood in
Dick Richards'
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins, one of two women who kidnap driving instructor—and former United States Marine Corps gunnery sergeant—Rafferty (
Alan Arkin), also singing "
Honky Tonk Angels".
[19]
In October 1975, Kellerman sang at Reno Sweeney,
[20] and performed two shows nightly at the
Rainbow Grill from November 25 to December 14.
[21] 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.
[22]
Later 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).[
citation needed]
Kellerman at the 1979 premiere of
The Rose
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. 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.
[23]
On February 7, 1981 the actress 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".
[24] 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.
[25]
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.
[26]
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, 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.
[27] From April 18 to May 21, 1995, Kellerman played the title role in the Maltz Jupiter Theatre production of
Mame.
[28] 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.
[5]: 217 That year Kellerman planned to release her second album,
Something Kool, featuring songs from the 1950s.
[28]
In 1996, Kellerman played a calculating sister in an episode of
The Naked Truth, "Sister in Sex Triangle with Gazillionaire!" A year later, she collaborated with Altman for the last time in "All the President's Women", an episode of the director's TV series
Gun. The actress then co-produced and reprised her Canadian stage role in a film version of
The Lay of the Land.[
citation needed]
In 1997, Kellerman was scheduled to play the title role in
Mrs. Scrooge: A Slightly Different Christmas Carol, a made-for-TV film version of
Charles Dickens'
novella. In the film, Mrs. Scrooge is a homophobic widow whose late partner (
Jacob Marley) and three other spirits awaken her to the reality of AIDS. Although it was never released, the actress told a reporter for
The Advocate why the project was more personal than professional: "My sister’s gay—and was gay before it was popular... My sister is a very loving person. So is her girlfriend. And my daughter is an amazing woman. They’re all heroic in my book."
[29]
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.
[30]
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.
[31] 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".
[32] In March 2002, Kellerman performed in Los Angeles'
What a Pair, a benefit for breast-cancer research,
[33] 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.
[34]
In the summer of 2004, Kellerman played host Madame ZinZanni in
Teatro ZinZanni.
[35][36] 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.
[37] Kellerman returned to the stage for a second
What a Pair concert, joining actress
Lauren Frost for "I'm Past My Prime".
[38] The next year, she played Dolores Montoya in
Blank Theatre Company's Los Angeles revival of
The Wild Party,
[39] 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.
[40] In 2006 the actress appeared as herself in the first episode of the
IFC's The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, "A Cult Classic".[
citation needed]
Kellerman at
Robert Altman: Celebration of an American Icon in January 2010
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.
[41] 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.
[1] That year she also played Donette, owner of a small-town diner, in the made-for-television film
The Wishing Well.
Kellerman starred with
Ernest Borgnine and
Mickey Rooney in
Night Club (2011). Her performance as a woman with Alzheimer's disease living in a retirement home won an Accolade Competition Award for Best Supporting Actress.
[42] That year she played a recurring role as Lola (an eccentric artist) in Cinemax's sexually explicit comedy-drama series
Chemistry, followed by a 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 remembers a close-knit, family-oriented past Hollywood and her triumphs and tribulations as an actress during the 1960s.
[43] Kellerman made promotional book-signing appearances in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Manhattan and Jersey City.
[44][45] 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.
[46] 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.
[47] Kellerman would return in the second season
Maron episode "Mom Situation",
[48] and as part of an
Epix Network documentary celebrating the life of Robert Altman on August 6, 2014.
[49]
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[50] 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).
[51] The relationship that had caused her terminated pregnancy was with actor William Duffy.
[5]: 58
After the release of
MASH, on December 17, 1970, Kellerman married
Starsky & Hutch producer Rick Edelstein.
[52] Anjanette Comer, Morgan Ames, Lisabeth Hush,
Joanne Linville and
Luana Anders were among her bridesmaids.
[5]: 194 On March 6, 1972, Kellerman divorced Edelstein, citing irreconcilable differences.
[53]
In 1967, Kellerman's sister, Diana, came out as a lesbian and separated from her husband, Ian Charles Cargill Graham, who took full custody of the couple's daughter, Claire. After Diana Kellerman moved to France with her partner, she didn't communicate with her daughter for eight years.
[29] Sally Kellerman adopted Claire on January 30, 1976. On April 10, 1976, Ian Graham died in
Edinburgh, Scotland. For a time in the mid-1970s, Kellerman was involved with
Mark Farner of the rock group
Grand Funk Railroad. He wrote the song "Sally", from the 1976 album
Born to Die, as an ode to their relationship. She also dated screenwriters
Lawrence Hauben,
David Rayfiel and
Charles Shyer, as well as journalist
Warren Hoge, producer
Jon Peters and actor
Edd Byrnes. In her autobiography, Kellerman claimed her relationship with Byrnes was never consummated.[
citation needed]
On May 11, 1980, Kellerman married
Jonathan D. Krane in a private ceremony at
Jennifer Jones's Malibu home.
[54] Claire Anderson Graham, 16, Kellerman's niece/adoptive daughter, was her
maid of honor. In May 1987, Krane adopted Claire, and in 1989, Kellerman and Krane adopted newborn twins, Jack Donald and Hannah Vaughan, who were born on June 24 of that year.
[55] Jonathan Krane died of a heart attack on August 1, 2016, at the age of 64.
[56] Hannah Krane died on October 22, 2016, at the age of 27 from a heroin and methamphetamine overdose. 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.
[57] As Kellerman had dated married men in the past, she forgave her husband for the affair.
[5]: 216
Kellerman died from heart failure at a care facility in
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, on February 24, 2022, at the age of 84.
[58] At the time of her death, she also had dementia.
[59]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Kellerman