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If there’s one thing Sally Kellerman has never been guilty of, it’s playing it safe. The hard working actress and singer doesn’t believe in resting on her laurels, preferring instead to take creative chances. After receiving both the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for her role as Hot Lips Houlihan in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H*, Sally was, well, hot. After giving another signature performance in Altman’s widely hailed “Brewster McCloud”, she cut her first demo with the legendary Lou Adler then jumped straight into the recording studio with world class arranger/producer Gene Paige and his talented, songwriter brother, Billy, to cut “Roll With The Feeling”, a raw, blues/rock album that revealed her passion for contemporary music as well as an uncanny ability to make a song her own.
When conventional wisdom would have dictated a stay-at-home and work in Hollywood mentality, Sally chose to take her band on the road for an extended tour. “I just had to work on my music,” she recalls. Though the experience wound up costing her a cool fifty grand, Sally says, “Yeah but what fun we had at the cook’s house after the third show by the freeway.” Reflecting on that period she says, “I was a product of the 60s. You follow your bliss. I’d already spent a dozen years paying dues before Robert Altman cast me in M*A*S*H*, so spending some time concentrating on my music didn’t seem at all unreasonable to me.”
In fact, Sally has always lived both in the acting and music worlds, often combining the two disciplines. She’s sung in several of her movies, including performing two songs written for her by Burt Bacharach in the musical extravaganza, “Lost Horizon”, several more in the highly acclaimed PBS production of “Verna, USO Girl”, with Sissy Spacek and William Hurt and two completely produced tunes in the network television film, “Dempsey” with Treat Williams. One of her most inspired moments came when she sang an on camera blues rendition of “Black Coffee” for the film, “Limit Up” that immediately followed a performance by Ray Charles. Sally has worked with a number of highly respected producers including Bobby Womack, Paul Rothchild, Leiber & Stoller, Barry Manilow, Adler and Muscle Shoals veterans Terry Crutchfield and Clayton Ivey in addition to the Paiges.
Refusing to be pigeonholed, Sally turned down the television role of Hot Lips and continued her acting career with a string of films that gave her a better opportunity to play different characters. She starred in “A Little Romance” with Sir Laurence Olivier and Diane Lane; Neil Simon’s “Last Of The Red Hot Lovers” with Alan Arkin; “Slither”, with co-star James Caan and “Rafferty And The Gold Dust Twins”, again with Arkin. She also helped propel “Back To School”, an engaging comedy with Rodney Dangerfield, past the $100 million box office mark. She also received a Best Actress nomination at the Monte Carlo Film Festival for her performance in the title role of PBS’ “Big Blonde” by Dorothy Parker. At the Genie awards (Canada’s Oscars) she received a Best Actress nod for he work in the independent film, “It Rained All Night”. When Sally agrees to make a film, it draws immediate curiosity and interest from fans and journalists, eager to see her exploring new horizons. Much like musical artist, David Bowie, she’s unpredictable and compelling.
Whether playing Jodie Foster’s mom in Adrian Lyne’s “Foxes”, creating sparks with Susan Sarandon and Shirley MacLaine in “Loving Couples” or energizing Alan Rudolph’s “Welcome To L.A.”, Sally displayed an almost uncanny ability to infuse a film with edginess and passion. Playing Julie Andrews eccentric neighbor in the Blake Edwards film “That’s Life” with Jack Lemon and produced by her husband, Jonathan Krane, Sally displayed just how far she could reach to give her role an extra dimension. Similarly, her performance in “Boris And Natasha” and her dry, understated presence in Altman’s 1994 “Ready To Wear/Pret-a-Porter” with Julia Roberts, Sophia Loren, Lauren Bacall and Stephen Rea proved that Sally has the ability to be completely at home in any genre—from drama to comedy.
Sally has also distinguished herself in a number of stage roles. She played the part created by Katherine Hepburn in “Holiday” opposite Kevin Kline, which enjoyed a three month run at Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre, then abruptly switched gears to star in “Women Behind Bars”, an over-the-top camp smash that had crowds at the packed Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood on their feet. Sally was the standby for Mary Tyler Moore in the David Merrick/Abe Burrows musical Broadway production of “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”, in which she also played the part of Meg and sang two songs. She’s done “Virginia Wolf” at Harvard, J.P Donlevy’s “A Singular Man” and played the title role in a much lauded production of “Mame”. In 2002, Sally appeared in “The Vagina Monologues” with Teri Hatcher and Regina Taylor at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills. In 2004, she played Madame ZinZanni in the San Francisco production of “Teatro ZinZanni”, eliciting rave reviews, including San Francisco Chronicle writer Jesse Hamlin’s declaration that she is”…Long Tall Sally…the Marlene Dietrich of rock and roll.” Sally tries to do at least one play every couple of years when her touring schedule permits.
Sally is ubiquitous as the commercial voice for Hidden Valley, Woolite, Volvo, Clairol, ADM and Mercedes Benz, to name a few. Since debuting as a singer on the “Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” she’s made countless TV talk and variety show appearances (she was a regular guest on Merv Griffin’s show), including one as host of “Saturday Night Live”, in which she became the first host allowed to perform a musical number on the show. She also turned heads when she sang with Gladys Knight and the Pips on their special. It’s not surprising that she’s been offered several opportunities to do her own musical variety program both on US network television and Canada’s CBC.
Sally tirelessly contributes time and effort to a variety of worthy causes including the Hereditary Disease Foundation, Planned Parenthood, AIDS Research and the environment. Though she’s constantly on the go working or picking up career achievement kudos such as the Susan B. Anthony Award as guest of honor at the 2004 High Falls Film Festival, she remains grounded, devoting as much time to raising her teenage twins, Jack and Hanna, as she does to her creative pursuits.
As she looks ahead, Sally is excited about completing her recording project with Leiber and Stoller, supporting the release of her CD, “Body Parts” and preparing for a hectic schedule of live music gigs under the musical direction of Chris Caswell, a breakout artist/writer/producer currently working with Paul Williams, Phil Ramone and Melissa Manchester. Her partnership with Caswell has taken them from the recording studio to the concert stage where they mixed a year’s worth of appearances at Hollywood’s famous Roxy in 2004 with several fund raisers for songwriting legend, Hal David as part of his “The Singer, The Writer, The Song” series supporting The Music Center. One of David’s favorite singers, Sally has performed alongside artists such Dionne Warwicke, Patti Austin, James Ingram and David Gates at high profile events which have been staged at The Music Center, The Cerritos Performing Arts Center and the Directors’ Guild.
Her M*A*S*H* heritage continues to draw attention and Sally spent part of last year celebrating its 35th anniversary, taping two British specials for Granada honoring “Greatest War Movies” and “Greatest Heroes In Film.” She also participated in a satellite media tour with fellow cast member, Tom Skerritt as part of AMC’s tribute to the film. Without missing a beat, she reprised her role in the colorful San Francisco musical production of “Teatro ZinZanni” and then drew raves in the Blank Theatre’s “Wild Party”, the Daniel Henning directed musical that played Hollywood’s Hudson Theatre and became the toast of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. The LA Weekly invited the cast of “Wild Party” to host and perform at their awards gala at the Henry Fonda Theatre with Sally performing her show-stopping finale, “When It Ends.”
Sally never strays far from the silver screen. She’s starring in Susan Seidelman’s “Boynton Beach Club” and makes a brief appearance in Amy Heckerling’s “I Could Never Be Your Woman” with Michelle Pfeiffer. “Boynton Beach Club”, named Best In Fest at the Palm Springs Film Festival, has enjoyed a remarkable opening in selected theatres and several critics view it as one of the surprise hits of 2006. With all she’s accomplished, Sally Kellerman would still rather take chances than rest on her laurels. She’s having too much fun to stop now.
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