Sally Kellerman: From 'Hot Lips' to cool tunes

June 29, 4:49 PMSF Showbiz ExaminerRobert Sokol

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Singer and actress Sally Kellerman tonight at The Rrazz Room.

It’s been almost 40 years since the curtain was raised - quite literally - on the now-classic scene of humiliation inflicted on Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H.  By the time the then 33-year-old Sally Kellerman took what is likely Hollywood’s second most imitated shower – after Janet Leigh in Psycho – she had already been kicking around a few feature films and a lot of episodic television (Bachelor Father, The Outer Limits, Star Trek, Bonanza). The film made her name and opened doors to roles, some of which she turned down, like the Stella Stevens part in The Poseidon Adventure.

However, long before she ever stepped in front of a camera there was music in this native Californian’s soul. She had a youthful recording contract with Verve and, after M*A*S*H, she released her first album called Roll With The Feelin’ under the producing hand of Gene Paige.  “It’s got a Joplin feeling,” she says. “Not a lot of savvy, but a lot of heart.”

Much as she loved to sing, music took a backseat to her acting career for the next several decades. She was one of the only un-dubbed singers in the much-maligned Lost Horizon (1973) with a song score by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The film earned her no awards, but was the start of a life-long friendship with David.

“Hal and Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller have been such supporters of mine. Hal has always included me in these Gold Circle events at the Music Center in LA with people like Rosemary Clooney, Dionne Warwick, James Ingram and other really amazing people.”

“One night Hal said ‘You have to work with Chris Caswell.’ Chris was musical director on these events. I told Hal that I worked with Mike Orland, who’s on American Idol now. He said, ‘That’s good, but you have to work with Chris. I’ve seen you sing too many wrong songs for too many years.’ Then he went to Chris and said, ‘You have to work with Sally.’” She pauses. “My whole world opened up! Suddenly I didn’t care about anything but working with Chris, working on new material and finding myself musically. I’ve been at this all these years and I’ve never felt the freedom that I feel now. Chris and I always wonder how Hal knew this relationship would evolve into what it has become.”

“Singing has always been a passion. I’ve always been at it.” Kellerman surprised Bay Area audiences with a well-received turn as the guest chanteuse at Teatro ZinZanni in 2004 and has made a few appearances at The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko since then. This year she kicked her music career into higher gear with the release of Sally, a CD collection of bluesy tracks perfectly suited to her honey-purr vocals.

“In the beginning I sang a lot of standards, but the band kept telling me I have a voice for blues, so I gave them my first album to hear and they said ‘We were right!’ My relatives are all from the South. I’m no Big Mama Thornton by any means, but I just have more of that feeling.”

Kellerman admits that despite her passion for music there were doubts both internal and external to overcome. “An actor who sings…you fall asleep just thinking about it!” she laughs. “That’s the hardest thing. I used to do these gigs and never open with any [publicity] fanfare, just show up and sing. My husband started calling me The Invisible Achiever. This CD is something I’m really proud of and I don’t want to be invisible anymore. I’m never gonna quit now. You know that ‘with your boots on’ expression? That’s me!”