Sally Claire Kellerman (born June 2, 1936 in Long Beach, California) is an American actress and singer most famous for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" O'Houlihan in the film M*A*S*H (1970) for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Biography

Kellerman attended Hollywood High School where she was "bitten by the acting bug." She went on to Los Angeles City College. She also studied at the Actor's Studio in New York City. As a singer, Kellerman already had a recording contract with Verve Records when she was 18.

Kellerman made her film debut in Reform School Girl (1959). She played Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in the second (aired) pilot episode of Star Trek, opposite Gary Lockwood. She reportedly almost talked herself out of her most famous role. She had an argument with M*A*S*H director Robert Altman after reading the script. She was incensed about the way her would be character, "Hot Lips," was humiliated. Altman said that her attitude and passion was exactly what he was looking for in the character.

Kellerman supplements her ongoing film career with stints as a nightclub singer, television and radio narrator and voice-overs.

She married director Rick Edelstein in 1970 but subsequently divorced. In 1980 she married Jonathan Krane. They separated in 1997.

Selected Filmography

• That's Life! (1986)
• Back to School (1986)
• It Rained All Night the Day I Left (1980)
• Lost Horizon (1973)
• M*A*S*H (1970)
• The Boston Strangler (1968)
• Star Trek: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966) (TV)
• Reform School Girl (1959)

Resources

• Sally Kellerman at Yahoo! Movies
• "Hotter than ever", article in the Pasadena Weekly