Friday, February 25, 2022

Quips and Quotations (Last of the Red Hot Lipped Lovers Edition)

 

1937-2022

I was an idiot in terms of career-building, but I had a great time.

--Sally Kellerman






















17 comments:

  1. In my travel writing days I was once invited to stay for free in a place called Hidden Valley Ranch, way out in the wilderness. It was a dreamy looking place in some beautiful looking state I unfortunately had no plans to go anywhere near. I don't know if it is the same place that made the dressing, but I doubt they had a condiments factory on the premises.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jenny, was this place near Santa Barbara, California? I looked up the name and found the inventor of ranch dressing owned a dude ranch called that. The ranch went out of business, so he started a mail-order business with the dressing he had concocted, eventually selling it to a big corporation.

      Delete
  2. I didn't know she could sing. I am loving her singing voice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JM, Sally Kellerman recorded two albums decades apart, sang on the soundtracks of a few of her own movies, and sang in nightclubs every now and then. However, singing was basically a road not taken. I liked her in that clip too.

      Delete
  3. Hello Kirk, You are my main source of news concerning this generation of actors--too bad it is mostly about the unending attrition. From your clips Kellerman gave some fine performances. It was probably the chemicals in the salad dressing that finally got her. --Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim, I do try to do posts about these people BEFORE they go, but I just don't have time for all of them. By the way, you asked me to recommend a Robert Altman movie. Well, the first three clips above are from 1970's MASH.

      Delete
  4. "He was drafted." Above one of the best punchlines in all of moviedom. Hi, Kirk! Imagine my surprise when I started reading your post this morning. At first I thought you had made an embarrassing mistake. You see, my stepson came to me last night and informed me that "Loretta Swit has died at the age of 84." I immediately shouted "Hot lips!" He said "right." I was busy at the time and didn't bother to look up the article. I took his word for it and started running memories of Loretta Swit's performances through my mind. This morning I was shocked to discover that Loretta Swit, age 84, is very much alive. It is Sally Kellerman, age 84, who went with the reaper. Obviously, the generation gap is to blame for the mixup. I don't think my stepson remembered that there was a M*A*S*H film. The only Hot Lips he ever knew was played by Loretta Swit on television. He must have seen a headline reading "Actress who played Hot Lips in M*A*S*H dies at 84" and took it from there. I believe I told you before that I like the film more than the series, and Sally's portrayal of a "military clown" who undergoes a metamorphosis to become one of the cool kids has stayed with me through the years. I enjoyed all of these clips. The sexual encounter with Frank broadcast throughout the camp is priceless. I haven't seen Last Of The Red Hot Lovers. It looks funny. I always get a kick out of Alan Arkin, and Sally was a wonderful, versatile actress as that scene illustrates. I saw Back To School and didn't think it was funny, but Sally's performance is delightful and elevates the film. I forgot that she lent her voice to that HVR salad dressing spot. I love her elegant, refined voice and diction. Thanks for paying tribute to a fine actress, Sally Kellerman, the reaper's new recruit. It grieves me to learn that dementia had set in, robbing her of a quality life in her final years. Enjoy the rest of your week, good buddy Kirk!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shady, thanks to 40 years 0f reruns, the TV version of MASH now eclipses the movie. I like both versions, as different as they are. Maybe BECAUSE they're so different from each other. I'm trying to imagine Alan Alda in Donald Sutherland's place in that scene, and just can't. Robert Duvall as Frank Burns in the TV version? That's even harder. Only Gary Burghoff was in both. I'm glad you mentioned Hot Lip's metamorphosis. Loretta Swit starting out as a villainess and then becoming one of the gang--it took about eight seasons--has been much commented on, but that Sally Kellerman made the same unlikely transformation in just under two hours is overlooked. Alan Arkin is still alive. Remember, he was in a war comedy himself (Catch-22.) As for The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, it was based on a Neil Simon play. I didn't find Back to School all that funny either, but it was a huge hit so someone did. Sally and Rodney were both good in it. They were better than the script. I included the salad dressing commercial to remind you that Sally's voice could be just as striking as her looks.

      Delete
  5. Shady beat me too it. "He was drafted." A great line.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Mike, that's René Auberjonois who said that. You might recall he was in both Benson and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

      Delete
  6. Oh, I didn't know she had passed away! RIP

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She died on the 24th, Debra, and I found out about it on the 25th.

      Delete
  7. I’m glad she had a great time. I love her as an actress. Not so much as a singer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I like the Kellerman quote. I'll save the rest for bedtime.

    ReplyDelete

In order to keep the hucksters, humbugs, scoundrels, psychos, morons, and last but not least, artificial intelligentsia at bay, I have decided to turn on comment moderation. On the plus side, I've gotten rid of the word verification.