The news that Sally Kellerman, who will forever be remembered for her Oscar-nominated role as Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H, died Thursday brought back memories of a lunch I shared with her back in 1995.
She was about to star as Mame Dennis in the musical Mame at the then-called Jupiter Theatre, long before Milton Maltz came on the scene. Her appearance in the show here, while no stranger than other choices in what she readily conceded had been an erratic career, had more to do with her second husband, film producer Jonathan Krane, who moved his production office and home to Palm Beach County in the early 1990s.
Kellerman, who made several films with Altman (Brewster McCloud, The Player, Ready-to-Wear) was only 33 when she was featured in M*A*S*H, making what was hailed as the second most famous shower scene in movie history after Psycho. She was 84 when she passed away at her home in Woodland Hills, Calif. Although the cause of death was not disclosed, her daughter noted that Kellerman had been suffering from dementia for the past five years.
The day we met at the north county dinner theater nearly 30 years ago, she was sharp and sassy, with that signature smoky, throaty voice. She rued the way she insisted on showing her range as an actress when she was first starting out in show business. “When I was younger, I’d go, ‘Ugh, I’m not just Hot Lips.’ That’s how I sunk my career, proving I wasn’t just Hot Lips.” In hindsight, she said, “I should have done 100 roles like Hot Lips. When the audience likes you like that, give it to them.”
She never varied too far from her sultry presence in such films as the offbeat comedies Slither and The Big Bus or Rodney Dangerfield’s professor/love interest in Back to School. She was featured prominently in the 1972 movie version of Neil Simon’s The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, and played the title Russian spy in the flop live-action flick Boris and Natasha (1992), based on the Jay Ward cartoon characters. And in one more Palm Beach County connection, Kellerman appeared in Susan Seidelman’s 2005 mordant comedy, Boynton Beach Club, about widows seeking romance in South Florida.
But more than an actress, Kellerman always fancied herself a singer. As she told me at the time, “I was dumber than I look early on in my career. So I turned all the movies down and got a band and went on the road. Oh, I made things difficult for myself.” Her singing tour was not successful, nor was her one venture into movie musicals, 1973’s Lost Horizon, with a score by Burt Bacharach.
Still, perhaps her affection for singing explains why she didn’t hesitate when the offer came to play the offbeat auntie in the Jerry Herman musical in Jupiter. Actually, the opportunity knocked twice. The first time was halted by a fire at the Jupiter playhouse just before rehearsals were to begin. But after the necessary repairs to the theater, it re-opened with Kellerman and Mame.
Digging into my files, I found my review of the show in which I wrote that “Her singing voice – that rasp that has sold so much Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing – is small but pleasantly musical, even if it occasionally reminds one of Carol Channing’s. She dances with a giddy abandon, which is almost as valuable as proficiency. Somehow, the eccentric way she moves is very much in character with Mame Dennis.”
Kellerman’s memoir, Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life, was published in 2013. She was married to TV writer-director Rick Edelstein for two years in the early 1970, then in 1980 she married Krane, who died in 2016. Kellerman is survived by her son Jack and daughter Claire.
Rest in peace, Sally.