Sally Kellerman

Sally Kellerman and Bud Cort have been close friends since they worked together on M*A*S*H (1970). In 1979, when Cort nearly died in a car accident and was hospitalized, he called Kellerman, and she came and stayed by his side throughout the entire ordeal.

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Kellerman performed stand-up comedy in An Evening at the Improv (1981). Jim Carrey was the next act.

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After reading for "Maj. Margaret 'Hot Lips' O'Houlihan," Kellerman realized the character was meant to be humiliated and objectified. Furious, she nearly talked herself out of the role and also confronted Robert Altman's vision. As it turned out, Altman had previously rejected Kellerman on the grounds that she was "too attractive" for the part, but he found her attitude and passion suited the character. Ironically, the film's most awful scenes are its most memorable, especially the famous prank in which the shower tent is lifted to expose the character naked, a scene that has inspired numerous imitations in cinema history.

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Kellerman's daughter, Hanna Krane, died on October 22, 2016, at the age of 27, from heroin and methamphetamine use.

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The late Jennifer Jones was Kellerman's mentor and close confidante; they attended group therapy sessions together. Jonathan D. Krane also attended the sessions, met Kellerman in 1978, and they began dating that December. On May 11, 1980, the two married in a private ceremony at Jones's home in Malibu. The couple separated for a few months in 1994, reconciled, then separated again in 1997 because of Krane's relationship with Nastassja Kinski. They eventually reunited in 1999 and remained a couple until Krane died unexpectedly of a heart attack in August 2016.

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Kellerman reportedly turned down the role of Dianne Cluny in The Boston Strangler (1968), but reconsidered after a phone call from Shirlee Fonda, whom she knew on Henry Fonda's behalf; Fonda expressed her admiration for Kellerman's work and insisted she join the film.

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In the 1950s, Kellerman worked as an elevator operator and a waitress at a cafe on the Sunset Strip to pay her tuition at the Actors Studio West.

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Kellerman took a break from acting to focus on her career as a singer.

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Kellerman was part of the original cast of the short-lived Broadway musical production Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).

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Kellerman turned down roles in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Nashville (1975) and A Wedding (1978) to focus on singing and family.

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With her second husband, Jonathan D. Krane, Kellerman was the adoptive mother of newborn twins Jack Donald and Hanna Vaughan Krane (born June 24, 1989).

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Playboy magazine named Kellerman its 1973 "Sex Star," among names including Faye Dunaway, Marlon Brando and Dyan Cannon.

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Kellerman was a close friend of John Travolta and Kelly Preston.

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Kellerman dated Edd Byrnes, William Duffy, Mark Farner, Lawrence Hauben, Warren Hoge, Jon Peters, David Rayfiel and Charles Shyer. In her autobiography, she states that her relationship with Edd Byrnes was never consummated.

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To research the role of Dorothy, an Alzheimer's patient in a nursing home in Night Club (2011), Kellerman volunteered at a memory care unit. Her performance won the Accolade Competition Award for Best Supporting Actress.

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Kellerman played Gloria, a tough inmate who bosses the other prisoners, in Tom Eyen's R-rated parody of 1940s women's prison films, Women Behind Bars. Her role in Verna: USO Girl (1978) reportedly led her to join the production: director Ron Link saw her in the PBS project and, when Adrienne Barbeau decided to leave the play at the Roxy Theatre, asked Kellerman to replace her.

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In high school, Kellerman performed with Yvette Mimieux in the all-male quartet The Four Preps.

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Kellerman was a member of the Actors' Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

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In the 1950s, Kellerman sold her cottage in Hollywood Hills West for $1.45 million.

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During the shooting of Ready to Wear (1994), director Robert Altman flew Lauren Bacall, who shared the lead with Kellerman, from Paris to New York City for a memorial service at Lincoln Center.

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Reluctant to make another road movie so soon after Slither (1973), Sally Kellerman nearly turned down Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975), but stayed with the project after learning her character would sing in the film.

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At the age of 68, Miss Kellerman holds the distinction of being the oldest American actress to perform a nude scene in a major film, in Boynton Beach Club (2005).

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She received the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award at Cinema Paradiso-Fort Lauderdale.

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She wanted to play Erica in An Unmarried Woman (1978), but Jill Clayburgh got the role.

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After her death, she was buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

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She was a graduate of the Stella Adler Acting Studio.

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Luana Anders, Anjanette Comer, Lisabeth Hush and Joanne Linville were bridesmaids at her first wedding ceremony when she married Rick Edelstein in 1970. The couple divorced in 1972. Kellerman has 4 former stepdaughters from this marriage.

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She appeared alongside Regina Taylor and Teri Hatcher in Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues (2002).

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From 2004 to 2005, she played the host Madame ZinZanni in 'Teatro ZinZanni' and Delores Montoya in the Blank Theatre Company's revival of 'The Wild Party'.

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From October 3 to November 15, 1980, she played Julia Seton in the Ahmanson Theatre's 'Holiday' (alongside Kevin Kline, Maurice Evans and Marisa Berenson).

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She turned down the role of Joanne in Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982).

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On Thursday, December 11, 1958, she testified at the coroner's inquest into the death of actor Tom Pittman, who drove his Porsche Spyder over a cliff into Benedict Canyon while returning from a party the previous Halloween. Kellerman was in a relationship with Pittman at the time, but it is unclear whether she was at the same Halloween party. In any case, Pittman was alone in the car when he crashed. His body was not found until November 19.

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