At the age of 84, Sally Kellerman has passed away. Jack Krane, her son, confirmed that she died of heart failure at an assisted care facility in Woodland Hills, California after a lengthy battle with dementia for the past five years.
She began her career as a jazz vocalist at age 18, signing with Verve records and appearing on the label’s various artists compilation. She decided to pursue acting rather than music until 1972, when she released the album “Roll With the Feeling.” Throughout her career, she sang in roles and recorded last year’s “Sally,” which was her final project.
She took an acting lesson at Los Angeles City College and starred in a school production of “Look Back in Anger,” which included future stars Jack Nicholson and several more.
Kellerman had over 150 film and television parts to her name and amassed a legendary career in both mediums. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan was one of her best-known characters in Robert Altman’s 1970 feature M*A*S*H, in which she played the role.
She is of Armenian and English descent. In 1937, she was born in Long Beach, California, to a Shell Oil executive and a piano instructor. Her parents relocated from the San Fernando Valley to Park La Brea before moving to the San Fernando Valley again. She has always had an interest in performing since she was a youngster.
She was a member of the chorus in high school, where her singing ability caught people’s attention. Verve Records offered her a recording contract, but she declined it.
Instead, she studied drama at Los Angeles City College, where she acted in a production of Don’t Look Back In Anger with classmates Jack Nicholson, Shirley Knight, Dean Stockwell, and Robert Blake.
She spent the 1960s working in television, notably on Cheyenne, The Twilight Zone, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, My Three Sons, The Outer Limits, I Spy, and Tarzan.
In 1970, she was nominated for an Academy Award as Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in the film M*A*S*H. She subsequently appeared in movies including Last of the Red Hot Lovers with Alan Arkin, Shelter with James Caan, A Little Romance with Laurence Olivier and Diane Lane, and Welcome to L.A. With Harvey Keitel and Sissy Spacek.
During the early 1970s, she was married to TV writer-director Rick Edelstein for two years. In 1980, Kellerman married writer-producer Krane and he died in 2016.
She is survived by her son Jack and daughter Claire.
Kellerman’s memoir, “Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life,” was published in 2013.
Rest in peace, Sally. You will be sorely missed!
