Where To Watch
R.I.P. Sally Kellerman, the original Hot Lips in the M*A*S*H film
She also played an important role in the second Star Trek pilot. She was 84 years old.
Acclaimed actress Sally Kellerman, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the Robert Altman film M*A*S*H, has passed away.
While the actress is best remembered for her turn as the no-nonsense major, her career started where no man has gone before. For many, the image of Kellerman is in the second pilot episode of Star Trek, titled "Where No Man Has Gone Before." The image of Kellerman with glowing eyes as she is filled with godlike power is one that lingers in the mind of every TOS fan.
Kellerman in the Star Trek pilotShe picked up a few more guest-starring roles on TV, but her major breakthrough came in 1970 when she was cast in Robert Altman's Korean war drama, M*A*S*H.
However, the role almost fell into obscurity. In fact, when Kellerman received her script, Hot Lips only had four lines.
She burst into tears upon seeing the script. Once the tears faded, she got angry — angry enough to call her agent and tell them to instruct Altman to "go jump in a lake." When Altman returned her call, he assured her that she could beef up the character with improvised scenes during filming.
The expanded role turned out to be magic, and it earned Kellerman a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 1971 Oscars. She worked steadily, landing movie roles for the next few years until she ended up in the second movie for which she would become famous: the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield comedy Back to School.
In Back to School, Kellerman plays Dr. Diane Turner, the literary professor and love interest to Rodney Dangerfield's obnoxious lead.
Kellerman noted that when fans recognized her on the street, they would usually call out "Hey, Hot Lips!" in reference to M*A*S*H or "Call me sometime when you got no class!" from Back to School.
"I'd be lying if I said it doesn’t push a button or two every time someone calls me Hot Lips," Kellerman wrote in her memoir Read My Lips. "I've been working for more than fifty years and made at least fifty movies, but for better or worse, I'm most notably remembered as Hot Lips Houlihan."
However, as time went on, Kellerman embraced being known as the iconic major. "Recently, as I walked through New York City, a truck driver leaned out the window and yelled, 'Hey, Hot Lips!' That put a big, crooked smile on my face."
The actress was 84 years old.
27 Comments
Such a fine, gifted and talented actress, she will be always be missed.
- She was in a 1998 episode of "Diagnosis Murder" in which she shared scenes with the TV Margaret Houlihan, Loretta Swit. That episode involved guest stars from 4 incarnations of "M*A*S*H" (the movie, the TV series, "AfterMASH" and even "Trapper John, M.D.").
- In an inverse of her "M*A*S*H" character, she also played the movie version of a character that was previously introduced on TV -- Natasha (of "Rocky and Bullwinkle") in the live-action "Boris and Natasha."
- Kellerman was scheduled as one of the guests at the 50th anniversary "Star Trek" convention in Las Vegas that was held the first week of August 2016. However, her husband suddenly died a few days before the convention (Aug. 1). Sometime on the 1st day of the convention, the main emcee of the event (and co-owner of the convention) announced to the crowd without further explanation that Sally Kellerman would not be there that week ... but he was then corrected by someone who informed him that Sally was actually at that very moment in the autograph room. She had come to the convention anyway, despite the personal tragedy that had just happened to her.
😲. Rest in Peace lovely one besides obvious beauty you were an incredible actress both modern and classical.
RIP Sally
She was great in that flick!
Kellerman passing away.
I am sad anytime actors and
actresses pass away including:
Dawn Wells(Mary Ann Summers)
Roy Stuart (Corporal Boyle (
Tommy Leonetti (Cpl Nick Cuccinelli)
Russell Johnson (Professor Roy Hinkley)
Al Molinaro (Al Delvecchio)
Gavan O Herlihy (Chuck Cunningham (.Eddie Cantor
Joe Penner
Howard Hesseman
Captain Kangaroo(Bob Keeshan)
Clayton Moore
Andy Griffith(Andy Taylor)
William Lantau(Ed Sawyer)
Doug Robinson(Doug on ALICE)
Radio Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh
Garry Marshall
Beatrice Colen(Marsha Simms)
George Lindsey(Goober Pyle)
RIP To As of the actors and actresses
That I mentioned and Rest In Peace
To ALL Actors and Actresses that I
Did not mention and list.
R.I.P. Sally Kellerman
Not 100% sure but I think 20th Century Fox currently owns the distribution rights to
MASH (1970) the film. MeTV sometimes broadcasts Goodbye, Farewell and Amen (1983)
on Veterans Day. According to IMDb, Alan Alda and Loretta Swit appeared in 251 episodes.
Since Benjamin Franklin Pierce is his actual character name ("Hawkeye" is used as an informal nickname), one theory is Hawkeye is named after a character in The Last of the Mohicans.
As the B.F.Pierce name could also be theorized, a Google search should provide you with the answers you are seeking.