Sally Kellerman Dead: Kellerman’s Sally Died: “MASH” Actress “Hot Lips” who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Houlihan Died at the Age of 84! Today, Sally Kellerman, the actress most remembered for her role as Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s MASH, died at an Assisted-living facility in Woodland Hills, California, due to dementia issues. When she died, she was 84 years old.
Over the course of more than 60 years, Kellerman’s work spanned a wide range of the entertainment industry. Additionally, she appeared in a number of Altman films, including Brewster McCloud (the TV series was abbreviated MAS*H) as well as the Altman-produced Welcome to L.A. Slither, The April Fools, A Reflection of Fear, and Back to School are just a few of the movies and television shows she has appeared in. Additionally, Kellerman contributed songs to the soundtracks for Brewster McCloud, Lost Horizon, Rafferty & the Gold Dust Twins, and Boris and Natasha: The Movie, in addition to his acting roles.
Additionally, she has done voice-over work for brands like Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing, Mercedes-Benz, and Revlon using her seductive and smokey voice. Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life, her autobiography, was published in April 2013 and details her experiences in the entertainment industry. As a professor in Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back to School” and a Starfleet officer in “Star Trek: The Next Generation’s” “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” she appeared in a number of other movies and television shows.
Kellerman Played Louise
One was the more experimental “Brewster McCloud,” in which she co-starred with Bud Cort and Michael Murphy and portrayed a willowy blonde actress with a distinctive throaty voice. Kellerman played Louise, the mother of Cort’s character, Brewster, in this unconventional picture. After that, she co-starred with Alan Arkin in the Neil Simon film “Last of the Red Hot Lovers,” which was directed by Gene Saks. “Sally Kellerman as the first woman makes out the best, managing to be both attractive and hostile,” said the Cleveland Press. The put-downs and retorts she uses have a biting edge to them.
Along with James Caan, she was part of the ensemble cast in the musical adaptation of “Lost Horizon” and participated in the wacky 1973 road movie “Slither” (in which she portrayed a witch, no less). Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins” reunited Kellerman with Arkin, as well as Mackenzie Phillips, for another road movie in 1975, and he was part of the star-studded cast of “The Big Bus.” As a frantic realtor whose husband is cheating on her in 1976’s “Welcome to L.A.,” Alan Rudolph (a fellow Altman fan) and Altman produced the film, Kellerman appeared as one of the women a composer (Keith Carradine) sleeps with during a visit to LA.
“Verna: USO Girl,” starring Sissy Spacek, was a critically regarded “Great Performances” film. In Variety’s assessment, “Kellerman, singing in a whiskey baritone or dropping apparently erudite quips, shows that particular type of blasé attitude that WWII curbed, if not killed.” NBC’s massive 1978 miniseries “Centennial,” in which Kellerman reprised her role as Raymond Burr’s daughter who marries fur trapper Pasquinel, played by Robert Conrad, was a welcome return to television for Kellerman.
Making it a More Fascinating role for Her
When Diane Lane’s mother appeared in “A Little Romance,” the film’s focus was on her daughter and her teen lovers, Kellerman and Arthur Hill, who were in the picture because of their unhappy marriage. Her next film, “Foxes,” had Kellerman and Jodie Foster in a believable mother-daughter relationship in just a few moments, making it a more fascinating role for her.
“Big Blonde,” based on the Dorothy Parker classic, and “September Gun,” a Western in which she played madam Mama Queen, were two of Kellerman’s first TV movies in the 1980s. Back to School,” in which she starred as the love interest, an attractive professor, and the Dangerfield film Moving Violations, in which she portrayed a manipulative judge, were two of her most popular roles. A kind neighbor, she appeared in “That’s Life” with Jack Lemmon and Julie Andrews, and then went on to play a character in “Meatballs III.
“The New York Times hailed her as “an actress without an unmannered bone in her body” in Henry Jaglom’s 1987 film “Someone to Love,” and she starred in Percy Adlon’s 1993 film “Younger and Younger,” starring Donald Sutherland and Lolita Davidovich. In 1992, she co-starred with Dave Thomas in the live-action remake of the Jay Ward cartoon “Boris and Natasha.” “The Player” (1992) and “Ready to Wear” (1994) were the first two films Kellerman worked on with Altman since the 1970s, and both were highly acclaimed. Kellerman appeared in both films as herself, and she was also connected with other characters.
The actress then had a guest appearance in a 1997 episode of Robert Altman’s short-lived ABC series “Gun.” Jonathan D. Krane produced the film “The Lay of the Land” in 1997, based on a play written by Mel Shapiro, in which Kellerman had previously performed. However, despite the star power of Kellerman and Begley Jr., the picture failed to gain critical or public acclaim.
An Excellent singer and Actress in Theatre and Screen
Susan Seidelman’s 2005 romantic comedy “Boynton Beach Club” stars Dyan Cannon and Brenda Vaccaro as ladies in their 60s attempting to find love in a South Florida enclave. Len Cariou’s character, “under the gentle ministrations” of Kellerman’s character, “regains his sexual confidence,” according to the New York Times, which referred to Kellerman as “lean, blonde, flashing her crocodile grin.” She had previously appeared as the enigmatic Constance Bingham on the daytime drama “The Young and the Restless.”.
In 2011 she appeared in the film Night Club, which also included Mickey Rooney and Ernest Borgnine; in 2014 she appeared in the film Reach Me, which tells the story of how an inspirational book affects a wide range of people. After signing a contract with Verve Records at the age of 18, Kellerman waited until 1972 to release her first album. As of 2009, she released a follow-up album, as well as songs for several film soundtracks. During the period from 1970 to 1972, Kellerman married Rick Edelstein, a producer in the film and television industries. She adopted Claire, her niece, in 1976. She married screenwriter Jonathan D. Krane in 1980, and the couple had twins, Jack and Hannah, in 1982. Hannah died just a few months after Krane in 2016.
Fan tributes have been pouring in for the late Sally Kellerman, who passed away earlier this month. Sally Kellerman, a favorite author of mine, has died at the age of 89, one of her admirers reported. As a result of her performance, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress but fell short to Helen Hayes in Airport. He acted in numerous Robert Altman films after MAS*H, including The Player and Prêt-à-Porter, which were both directed by Altman,
