Sally Kellerman Movies
Bitten by the acting bug in high school, statuesque leading lady Sally Kellerman studied with Jeff Corey and at Actors Studio West before making her film debut in Reform School Girl (1959). In the 1960s, she built up her reputation with offbeat guest spots on such TV series as Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre, Slattery's People and It Takes a Thief. She also essayed small but attention-grabbing parts in films like The Boston Strangler (1968, as the only surviving victim) and The April Fools (1969). Her breakthrough role was her Oscar-nominated turn as Major "Hot-Lips" Houlihan in MASH--a role she very nearly talked herself out of. Upon reading the script, she angrily confronted director Robert Altman, raging over the insulting and humiliating aspects of the part. She was then mollified by Altman, who declared that her unbridled outrage was just what he wanted from "Hot Lips." Though MASH opened up better film opportunities for Kellerman, she continued playing more oddball character roles than traditional "star" assignments. From time to time, she has spelled her film activities with nightclub singing appearances. Previously married to director Rick Edelstein, Sally Kellerman is currently wed to Jonathan Kane, who has produced many of her more recent films. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1967
The Movie Maker relates the last days of an old-fashioned Hollywood mogul. Mike Kirsch (Rod Steiger) built his studio from nothing in the 1920s; now, four decades later, he is on the way out, the victim of a corporate takeover. We follow Kirsch as he exercises his waning authority on a temperamental movie star (Sharon Farrell), browbeats his alcoholic wife (Anna Lee), rebellious daughter (Sally Kellerman) and longtime yes-man associate (James Dunn), and vainly attempts to push through an outdated pet movie project. Finally he is wrenched off his throne by a former assistant (Robert Culp), who is now in cahoots with the conglomerate buying the studio. Kirsch is left alone to weep in his projection room as one of his past hits plays upon the screen. The Movie Maker was originally a one-hour drama titled "A Slow Fade to Black," written by Rod Serling and telecast in 1963 on The Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre. To pad the running time to two hours, Universal filmed a series of badly written and acted flashback sequences set in the 1920s, with Michael Pataki delivering an overbaked Rod Steiger imitation as young Mike Kirsch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1966
The series' second pilot episode (following the then-unaired "The Cage") is an extraordinary science fiction-adventure for its time. The starship Enterprise, commanded by Capt. James Kirk (William Shatner), is about to probe outside of the galaxy when they encounter an old-style disaster buoy from a spaceship listed as missing for two centuries. Examining its memory banks, they find that the ship encountered an unknown form of energy at the galaxy's edge, which precipitated a frantic search for information in their computer about paranormal mental powers and the captain's ordering of the destruction of his own vessel. The Enterprise proceeds on course and hits the same energy barrier, escaping with its main drive disabled, nine crewmen dead, and First Officer Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) mutating as a result of contact with the barrier. With the ship now years from any Federation base as a result of its disabled drive, the crew finds itself with a monster aboard. Mitchell quickly manifests extraordinary mental powers and an increasing contempt for the crew around him. Science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) warns that Mitchell will soon be a threat to all of them, while psychiatrist Elizabeth Dehner (Sally Kellerman), who is in love with him (and, as later revealed, is also mutating from the energy blast), defends Mitchell as a potentially improved, evolved version of humanity. Kirk at first cannot face the choice that he knows he must make, of leaving his oldest friend marooned on an uninhabited planet that may also have the facilities to repair the main engines. Finally, Mitchell forces his decision when he turns on Kirk and the crew with mental powers they can't combat. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Bonanza closed out its seventh season on May 15, 1966 with the comic episode "A Dollar's Worth of Trouble." Gypsy palm reader Mme. Adella (Mabel Albertson predicts that Hoss Cartwright's life will soon accommodate a blue-eyed blonde, a moonshiner, and a murderous gunslinger. As these prognostications come true in the form of blue-eyed Kathleen Walker (Sally Kellerman) and booze-brewing John Walker (Elisha Cook Jr.), Hoss nervously gears himself for his inevitable confrontation with gun-wielding Craig Bonner (Hampton Fancher III). This episode was written by Robert L. Goodwin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1965
Newly engaged to an American girl named Sally Benner (Sally Kellerman), London policeman Tommy Bonn (Ron Randell) brings his sweetheart back home, only to find that he has been assigned to track down a strangler. The situation gets personal when, while taking a nocturnal stroll in the London fog, Sally disappears. The subsequent events not only involve Sally and Tommy, but also Tommy's partner, Stephen Leslie (Michael Pate), and a disturbed young man named Clarke (David Carradine) -- who apparently has a compulsion to confess to every crime that occurs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Randell, Sally Kellerman, (more)
- 1965
This quirky melodrama opens with an automobile crash. The driver, Steve Mallory (George Peppard), comes out of unconsciousness with amnesia. As his memory slowly returns, he learns that he is a wealthy manufacturer of table china. His wife Alexandria (Elizabeth Ashley) wants to leave him, and his cousin Oliver Parsons (Roddy McDowall) wants Steve to sell him the family business. He also learns that the passenger in his car, a cocktail waitress named Holly Mitchell (Sally Kellerman), was killed in the accident. Her husband Lester (Arte Johnson) joins forces with Parsons to frame Steve and blame him for the accident, and Steve is arrested. Lester then kidnaps Alexandria and threatens to kill her in revenge for Holly's death. The film is based on a novel by Joseph Hayes. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Peppard, Elizabeth Ashley, (more)
- 1964
Luis Spain (Don Gordon), Genaro Planetta (Tony Mordente), and Henry Castle (Chris Warfield) are three seeming social misfits who are recruited into the ranks of the Invisibles, a subversive underground organization run by an alien race. The Invisibles, small creatures with hard shell-covered bodies and sharp claws, have the ability to invade and merge with any human being, taking over control of their minds and bodies; they have already done this with several high-ranking politicians and other prominent personalities, and are planning on doing it with more, with help from Spain, Planetta, and recruits like them. Spain turns out to be an agent of the GIA (Government Intelligence Agency), sent to infiltrate the ranks of the Invisibles' followers. Cut off from his agency by the murder of his partner (William O. Douglas, Jr.), he is sent on his first mission, the takeover of a top defense department advisor (Neil Hamilton), only to learn that the Invisibles have suspected him from the beginning, and that he is the target, their goal to get one of their own into the ranks of the GIA. Seriously injured and desperately seeking help, Spain turns to his fellow recruit Planetta, with whom he developed a tenuous bond during their indoctrination. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Richard Bellero (Martin Landau) is a brilliant but frustrated scientist, forever failing to find approval from his wealthy, pacifist-oriented father Richard Sr. (Neil Hamilton), even when he develops a practical high-energy laser. Much to the displeasure of his ambitious wife Judith (Sally Kellerman), he has been told by his father that he is being passed over for chairmanship of the family-founded corporation. By accident, however, Richard's laser device draws in an alien being (John Hoyt) who, among other attributes, possesses an invisible force-shield. Judith sees this shield as something that would earn her husband the respect of his father and the world, and the chairmanship of his father's corporation, if he could claim it as his discovery. With help from her servant Mrs. Dame (Chita Rivera), she shoots the alien and takes the control device, a button attached by a vein to the being's body, and activates the shield for her father-in-law; the shield is, indeed, impenetrable, but Judith finds she is unable to deactivate it. With her air running out, it becomes apparent that nothing, including her husband's laser, can get her free. Her father-in-law finds the alien's body, but is killed by Mrs. Dame, an act that stirs the alien -- who is barely alive -- just long enough to rescue Judith. Now freed, she starts to move across the room but is blocked by a barrier that only she sees -- she has gone insane. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In the eighth volume in a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series, a bizarre experiment causes a psychiatrist and his unbalanced patient to swap identities. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1964
In Volume 27 of a collection culled from the 1963-1965 science fiction anthology television series, two Earthlings square off against a pair of aliens, with the continued survival of their individual planets promised to the winner. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
In Hands of a Stranger, concert pianist James Stapleton loses his hands in a traffic accident. Doctor Paul Lukather grafts on a new pair of hands, which were "donated" by a murder victim. Distressed that his new extremities are radically different from his old ones, Stapleton suffers a severe emotional breakdown. He subsequently causes the deaths of several people, both directly and indirectly; the most chilling moment is the death of young Barry Gordon, the son of the now-blinded cab driver whom Stapleton holds responsible for his accident. This was an unofficial screen version (the fourth up through that time) of the novel Hands of Orlac; previous versions were made in 1924 (as Orlacs Hände), 1935 (as Mad Love) and 1960 (as Les Mains d'Orlac). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Lukather, Joan Harvey, (more)
- 1957
The inherent trashiness of Reform School Girl is redeemed by the sincere performance of Gloria Castillo and the matter-of-fact direction of Edward Bernds. Castillo plays mixed-up teenager Donna Price, who is shipped off to a girl's reformatory when she is involved in a fatal car crash. Actually, Donna is innocent, but she refuses to reveal who was driving. Only when the culprit (a pre-77 Sunset Strip Edward Byrnes) reveals himself to be a total piece of excrement is Donna able to extricate herself from her dilemma. The film served as the movie debut of Sally Kellerman, cast as a butchy inmate. Reform School Girl was remade for television in 1994 as part of Showtime cable's "Rebel Highway" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Castillo, Ross Ford, (more)
