She Was Famous For Being “Hot”
Sally Kellerman shot to superstardom as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in 1970's hit film M*A*S*H. She might have burned even hotter if she hadn't turned down some of Hollywood's most promising roles.
1. She Had Music In Her Veins
Long Beach, California, gave the world Sally Clare Kellerman on June 2, 1937. Her father Jack came out of St Louis and worked as an executive at Shell Oil, providing materially for the family. But it was her mother Edith who brought music into the home as a piano teacher. Despite the idyllic childhood, Kellerman was lucky to make it out of the house alive.
2. She Lost A Sister Too Soon
Sally Kellerman was the middle of her parents’ three girls—but she became the baby of the family in short order. Kellerman’s younger sister, the actual baby of the family, passed on in infancy. But the family kept their faith—Christian Science faith to be exact. If the tragedy cast a shadow over her childhood, it didn’t last long.
3. She Grew Up Among The Groves
By fifth grade, the Kellermans had traded Long Beach for the San Fernando Valley. In those days, Granada Hills wasn’t suburbia—it was picturesque pastoral farmland. Kellerman later remembered her early years there as a place “surrounded by orange and eucalyptus groves”. She would leave her idyllic setting before long for a much less welcoming one.
4. She Towered Over Her Classmates
Halfway through high school, Kellerman’s family moved again—this time to Park La Brea, close to Hollywood. Naturally, Kellerman enrolled at Hollywood High and immediately stood out from her classmates, standing just under 5’11. Despite her stature, Kellerman was shy and earned poor marks in nearly everything but choir and gym.
But when she landed a role in her school’s production of Meet Me in St Louis, she knew she was destined for the spotlight.
5. She Signed With Verve
A simple demo tape changed everything. With some help from a high-school friend, Sally Kellerman got a recording sent to Norman Granz, the founder of Verve Records—the same label that had launched legends like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Granz heard something in Kellerman’s demo and signed her at just 18 years old.
She was on the verge of being a star—and that’s exactly what scared her.
6. She Walked Away From Her Big Break
Kellerman’s Verve Records deal should have been the start of her career. Instead, it was the first time Kellerman would do what would become a career-long habit: walk away. The whole idea of stepping into a recording booth as a professional terrified her, and rather than face the studio, she let the contract lapse without cutting a single track.
It wouldn’t be the last time she gave away a golden ticket.
7. She Studied With Future Legends
After walking away from Verve, Sally Kellerman spent a year at Los Angeles City College. Still, she couldn’t ignore her desire to burn bright with a spotlight. Kellerman dropped out of college and enrolled, instead, in Jeff Corey’s legendary acting class. Sitting in the chairs next to her were Jack Nicholson, Shirley Knight, Dean Stockwell, and Robert Blake.
If she couldn’t make it with classmates like that, she never would.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Wikimedia Commons
8. She Waited Tables For Movie Stars
Acting classes weren’t free—and Kellerman wasn’t rich. To help pay for her expensive acting classes, Kellerman did what all actresses do: she found a job waiting tables alongside other struggling actresses at Chez Paulette. Her hard work was paying off. Within a year, she had landed a role in Corey’s production of John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger.
She was only looking forward.
Fairchild Archive, Getty Images
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9. She Made Her Film Debut
By the late 1950s, Sally Kellerman had all but outgrown Corey’s acting lessons. But it’s not like she was waiting around for opportunities to find her. Kellerman joined Actors Studio West in New York and, before long, made her film debut in 1957’s Reform School Girl. It wasn’t exactly a big Hollywood production, but it was enough to give her a start.
Then she immediately stumbled.
Universal History Archive, Getty Images
10. She Faced A Difficult Decision
In 1961, Kellerman made a decision that would impact the rest of her life. After a brief (but clearly steamy) relationship with actor William Duffy left her pregnant, Kellerman went into crisis mode. She attempted to end the pregnancy at home but botched it, badly enough to land her in a hospital. Having been raised as a Christian Scientist, it was her first time seeking help from a doctor.
If the decision affected her, she didn’t let it show.
11. She Took To The Small Screen
By the early 1960s, Sally Kellerman had put her tragic decision aside and entered an era of successful TV appearances. She turned up in Cheyenne, played opposite John Forsythe in the sitcom Bachelor Father, and landed an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1963. None of these gigs made her a household name, but they were all building to something.
If only Kellerman would accept it when it came.
12. She Found Her Voice On Stage
Before Hollywood handed her a script worth keeping, Kellerman cut her teeth in the theater. She made her stage debut in Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, then turned up at the Pasadena Playhouse for The Marriage-Go-Round. By 1962, she had landed a role in Michael Shurtleff’s Call Me by My Rightful Name. She was already developing a reputation for certain kinds of roles.
13. She Played Beauties And Schemers
Kellerman’s blond locks, statuesque physique, and high cheekbones made her the perfect actress to play the femme fatale. And TV producers noticed. Kellerman appeared in a few episodes of The Outer Limits, playing the manipulative Judith Bellero opposite Martin Landau. Next, she co-starred with David Niven in The Rogues in an episode that turned almost entirely on her looks.
Then came The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1965 and another role that saw her go where no actress had gone before.
14. She Practically Launched Star Trek
In 1966, Sally Kellerman beamed into history without realizing it. She starred in just the second pilot episode of Star Trek, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. Funny enough, she had no idea what she had helped create. “I knew nothing about Star Trek,” she later admitted. “We had no idea what it was and that awful outfit, with the pants that didn’t quite fit”.
They fit better than her next role.
McFadden, Strauss Eddy & Irwin for Desilu Productions, Wikimedia Commons
15. She Blew It On Broadway
Shortly after Star Trek, Kellerman found herself on a much bigger stage—and a much worse production. She was part of the cast in Joseph Anthony’s original Broadway production of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. However, the show did nothing to help her career. After just four previews, the curtains closed on her Broadway hopes.
She wouldn’t have much time for Broadway anyway.
16. She Stepped In For Her Sister
In 1967, Kellerman’s older sister Diana made a decision that, in those days, came with a heavy cost. Diana revealed that she was a lesbian and walked out on her marriage, traveling to France with her new partner. When Diana’s ex-husband passed on three months later, Kellerman was left to raise her niece, Claire. One way or another, however, she would find her way back to fame.
17. She Inspired A Documentary
Sally Kellerman didn’t let her new-adoptive-mother status slow her down. In the late 1960s, she took up briefly with actor-screenwriter Lawrence Hauben. He was so taken with her, in fact, that he turned their romance into a movie. Hauben directed a documentary called Venus, built entirely around the two of them. The film only managed a tiny theatrical run in 1971 before vanishing.
Her next film appearance was less flattering.
18. She Could Be Happy Or Sad
In 1968, Kellerman had a controversial role in The Boston Strangler. In the film, she portrayed the “severely beaten (and only surviving) victim of Albert DeSalvo”. She quickly pivoted from that serious role with the 1969 romantic comedy The April Fools, starring alongside Jack Lemmon. From tragedy to satire, she was proving that she could do it all.
If only someone would notice.
19. She Hated The Roles She Got
By 1971, Sally Kellerman had grown tired of the television spots that she was getting. In a candid Life magazine interview, she finally let it rip: “It took me eight years to get into TV—and six years to get out. Frigid women, [boozers] they gave me. I got beat up, [violated], and never played comedy”. She was about to get the comedy she had been waiting for.
20. She Became Major “Hot Lips”
In 1970, Robert Altman was looking to cast Major Margaret Houlihan for his upcoming black comedy—a little film called M*A*S*H. At first, Altman had written off Kellerman as “too attractive” for the role. But, after Kellerman confronted Altman about it, she changed his mind, citing her “attitude and passion”.
It was her looks, however, that would make her famous.
21. She Bared It All On Camera
M*A*S*H launched Sally Kellerman into superstardom—but it came at a cost. In one of the film’s most iconic scenes, Kellerman’s shower tent gets lifted, exposing her body to the entire camp. Kellerman screams at her commanding officer, “This isn’t a hospital, it’s an insane asylum!” and the line became one of the most quotable from the era. However, it was another scene with Robert Duvall’s character that earned her the nickname “Hot Lips”.
Audiences loved the scene—but Kellerman wasn’t laughing.
Screenshot from MASH, 20th Century Fox (1970)
22. She Was Horrified—And Freed
Kellerman described her feelings about filming the shower scene, saying that she was “absolutely horrified and humiliated”. But, by the time she sat down with Dick Cavett in another interview, her attitude had completely flipped. “It was a very freeing, positive experience,” she said. “For the first time in my life I took chances, I didn’t suck in my cheeks, or worry about anything”.
23. She Got Her Oscar Nod
M*A*S*H wasn’t just a hit—it was a phenomenon. The 1970 film grossed over $80 million, becoming one of the year’s biggest box-office successes and inspiring a long-running TV series in which Loretta Swit would take over the role of Hot Lips. Audiences weren’t the only ones who loved it. Kellerman picked up M*A*S*H’s only acting nomination for an Oscar.
She may have acted too well.
24. She Was “Hot Lips” Forever
With her role as Major “Hot Lips” Houlihan, Sally Kellerman was finally a household name. Although, not in the way she had hoped. To all of her new adoring fans, Kellerman wasn’t Kellerman at all. In a Life magazine interview, Kellerman explained what it was like in the aftermath of M*A*S*H: “Everybody calls me Hot Lips,” she said. “Nobody knows my name”.
She would try everything to change that.
25. She Was A True Guardian Angel
Kellerman teamed up with Altman once again when he cast her in Brewster McCloud. In the film, Kellerman plays Louise, the guardian angel of Bud Cort’s character. Her real life role wasn’t that different. In 1979, when Cort was in a near-fatal car accident, the first call he made was to Kellerman. Like a true guardian angel, she stayed by his side as he recovered.
Not that she was lonely for company.
Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection, Getty Images
26. She Wed A Hollywood Producer
With M*A*S*H still in theaters, Sally Kellerman found the time to settle down. On December 17, 1970, she married Starsky & Hutch producer Rick Edelstein in front of a Hollywood crowd. Her bridesmaids alone read like a who’s-who of Tinseltown—actresses Anjanette Comer, Joanne Linville, and Luana Anders. It looked like the perfect Hollywood ending.
It wasn’t.
27. Her Marriage Imploded Fast
Just over a year later, Kellerman was back to being single. On March 6, 1972, she divorced Edelstein, citing irreconcilable differences. Her parting comment didn’t leave much room for interpretation: “We’ve fought every day since we’ve met”. It was a short, sour end to what had looked like a fairytale marriage. And she was about to make an even worse decision.
28. She Turned Down A Disaster
Hot off her Oscar nod, Kellerman was suddenly drowning in offers—and saying “no” to most of them. In 1972, however, she passed on a role that she shouldn’t have. Producers had tried to cast her as Linda Rogo in The Poseidon Adventure, but the part ended up going to Stella Stevens in one of the decade’s biggest films. She also declined a 10-page spread in Vogue.
It was as if she was done with acting.
Bruce H. Cox, Los Angeles Times, Wikimedia Commons
29. She Finally Cut A Record
Acting was never Kellerman’s only passion. In 1972—more than a decade after she had walked away from Verve Records as a teenager—Kellerman finally went back into the recording booth. She released her debut album Roll with the Feelin’, working with producer-arranger Gene Page. What Kellerman did next, however, would be the biggest mistake of her career.
30. She Turned Down Altman
After finishing Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972), Altman phoned Kellerman with an offer she couldn’t refuse—or could. “Sally,” he said, “do you want to be in my picture after next?” Kellerman demurred. “Only if it’s a good part,” she said. Before she knew it, Altman dropped the call. “Stars would line up to work for nothing for Bob Altman,” she later said. “The Altman film I turned down? Nashville. In that part I would have been able to sing. Bad choice”.
Bernard Gotfryd, Wikimedia Commons
31. She Chose Fear Over Confidence
Kellerman’s missed opportunities became a pattern she would later own publicly. In her memoir, she looked back ruefully on a career studded with rejected roles—The Poseidon Adventure and Nashville chief among them. “There isn’t an actress in town who hasn’t turned down some fabulous thing,” she wrote. “My choices weren’t made from a place of any real confidence but rather mostly from fear”.
32. She Inspired A Rock Song
While Kellerman was turning down Altman, she was turning up the heat with another famous name. In the mid-1970s, she was romantically involved with Mark Farner—the frontman of the rock group Grand Funk Railroad. Farner was so smitten that he wrote a song about her: a track, simply titled “Sally”. He was just one of Kellerman’s famous admirers.
33. Her Dance Card Was Full
Kellerman’s post-M*A*S*H dating life gave new meaning to her nickname “Hot Lips”. Her roster of romantic conquests included screenwriters David Rayfiel and Charles Shyer, journalist Warren Hoge, producer Jon Peters, and actor Edd Byrnes. In her autobiography, she made a curious point of clarifying one detail about Byrnes—namely, that their romance had never ended up in the sack.
Why she felt the need to spell that out is a question only she could answer.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
34. She Took To The Cabaret Stage
When the film offers slowed, Kellerman returned to the love that had started it all—singing. In October 1975, she performed at a legendary Greenwich Village cabaret. The next month, she settled in for a nightly residency at the Rainbow Grill, performing two shows a night. Critics noted her “intriguingly husky voice”, but also called out her tendency toward “breezy superficiality”.
Someone fell for her siren song.
35. She Found Husband Number Two
On May 11, 1980, Kellerman walked down the aisle for the second time. This time, she tied the knot with producer Jonathan D Krane in a private ceremony that took place at Jennifer Jones’ Malibu home. The couple wasted no time starting a family, adopting newborn twins—a son named Jack Donald and a daughter named Hannah Vaughan.
Hollywood, however, wasn’t done with her yet.
36. She Made A Late-Night Cameo
On February 7, 1981, Kellerman made an increasingly rare TV appearance when she hosted Saturday Night Live. The episode saw Jimmy Cliff as the musical guest with Kellerman steering the comedy. She closed the show out with a rendition of “Starting Over Again”. And when it came to her acting career, she was starting all over again.
37. She Acted With A Big Bird
In 1985, Kellerman voiced one of the most unlikely roles of her career: Miss Finch in Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird. The performance meant more to her than the title might suggest. Despite not actually appearing on camera, many critics and fans consider her voice in the film to be one of her best and most important roles.
Screenshot from Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, Warner Bros. Pictures (1985)
38. She Played Some Iconic Comedy
The mid-1980s brought Kellerman the comedy comeback she had been waiting for. In 1986, she played Rodney Dangerfield’s love interest in Back to School. That same year, she popped up as the eccentric neighbor in Blake Edwards’ That's Life! alongside Julie Andrews and Jack Lemmon. By 1992, she had even produced and starred in her own project, Boris and Natasha: The Movie.
She wasn’t laughing in her marriage, though.
Screenshot from Boris and Natasha: The Movie, Academy Entertainment (1992)
39. Her Marriage Hit Some Rough Patches
Kellerman and Krane would be together for 36 years—but it wasn’t always smooth sailing. The couple separated twice. The first split happened briefly in 1994. Then, in 1997 and 1998, they parted ways again over Krane’s very public romance with actress Nastassja Kinski. Having dated more than a few married men herself in the past, however, Kellerman ultimately found it in her to forgive her husband.
And speaking of mending fences.
40. She Kept Working With Altman
Despite their split in 1972, Kellerman’s bond with Robert Altman never really broke. Twenty years later, Kellerman paired up with Altman again in The Player, appearing as herself in the meta-Hollywood satire. Two years later, she suited up with Altman again in Prêt-à-Porter, starring alongside Tracey Ullman and Linda Hunt.
Still, their partnership had to come to an end at some point.
41. She Worked With Altman One Last Time
In 1997, Kellerman and Altman teamed up for the final time. The project was an episode, “All the President’s Women”, of his TV anthology series. For a director and actress who had spent more than 25 years orbiting each other—through M*A*S*H, Brewster McCloud, The Player, and more—it felt like the end of a Hollywood era.
Her career was taking a different turn.
42. She Almost Played A Female Scrooge
Kellerman’s career took a strange turn when she starred in a TV film titled Mrs. Scrooge: A Slightly Different Christmas Carol. In the film she portrayed the titular character, a prejudiced widow whose late partner awakens her to the reality of AIDS. For Kellerman, the role was personal. “My sister’s gay,” she explained. “My sister is a very loving person. So is her girlfriend…They’re all heroic in my book”.
The film, sadly, never saw the light of day.
Fairchild Archive, Getty Images
43. She Faced Financial Trouble
For all of her star wattage, Kellerman wasn’t immune from money troubles. The Kellerman-Krane family had moved from Hollywood to Jupiter, Florida in 1991. But by 2008, “financial difficulties” had forced their hand. They sold their Florida condo and headed back to Hollywood, where it had all started. A second act in California was just what she needed.
44. She Got Back Behind The Mic
Returning to Hollywood gave Kellerman the push she needed to start recording again. In September 2008, she joined Ray Brown Jr for the duet “I Thought About You” on his album Friends and Family. Then, in 2009, she released Sally, her first solo album since Roll with the Feelin’. The track list was eclectic but inspired and proved that she still had talent left to share.
45. She Won A Surprise Award
Late-career Kellerman had one more trick up her sleeve. In 2011’s Night Club, she played a woman with Alzheimer’s living in a retirement home. Even though she shared the screen with veterans Ernest Borgnine and Mickey Rooney, her star burned brightest. The performance, quietly devastating, saw Kellerman walk away with the Accolade Competition Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She wasn’t done quite yet.
46. She Got A Daytime Emmy Nod
In October 2014, Kellerman joined the cast of one of TV’s most enduring soap operas, The Young and the Restless. She took on the recurring role of Constance Bingham for 10 episodes, bringing a touch of old-Hollywood glamour to daytime TV. And the Academy noticed. The next year, Kellerman picked up a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series.
It was time to tell her own story.
47. She Wrote The Book On Her Life
On April 30, 2013, Kellerman finally got the last word on her own story. She published her memoir, Read My Lips: Stories of a Hollywood Life, painting the portrait of a “close-knit, family-oriented past Hollywood”. She dished all of the details on the ups and downs in her career and toured from LA to New York promoting the book.
But, on the back of the book tour, tragedy was waiting.
48. She Made A Final Cameo
Kellerman’s last acting credit came in 2017, on a Hulu series few would have put her in. In an episode of the comedy Difficult People titled “The Silkwood”, she played a character named Joan Gentile. Far from a top-billed Hollywood production, it was a small role on a niche show—perfect for her final appearance on screen. After more than 150 credits, the curtain was finally coming down.
But not before one last twist.
49. She Lost Her Husband And Daughter
Kellerman barely had a minute to enjoy her retirement before tragedy struck. On August 1, 2016, her husband Jonathan Krane succumbed to cardiac arrest at the age of 64. As if that wasn’t bad enough, less than four months later, her grief doubled. On October 22, 2016, Kellerman’s adopted daughter lost her life to a substance overdose. She was just 27 years old.
Dimitrios Kambouris, Getty Images
50. She Took Her Final Bow
By 2022, Sally Kellerman was living at an assisted care facility in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, and suffering with dementia. Then, on February 24, 2022, Major “Hot Lips” passed on from heart failure and kissed the world goodbye. As she said herself, “It hasn’t been smooth or delightful every minute…but it’s been exciting and good”.
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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
