Sally Kellerman has passed at age 84

[IMC Headquarters]

Side Trek:

Major Houlihan: I wonder how a degenerated person like that could have reached a position of responsibility in the Army Medical Corps!
Father Mulcahey: He was drafted.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

A fantastic actress and a classy lady. Rest in peace.

One of my favorite scenes with her:

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[hbquikcomjamesl]

The hotel where I normally stay, when visiting San Francisco, is the Columbus, at Columbus and Francisco. It is right next door to a night club called Bimbo's 365 Club. Anybody who's from San Francisco knows that it's just a more-or-less general purpose nightclub, mainly featuring musical acts, but also frequently hosting private events. Anybody who's not familiar with the area will automatically assume, from the name ("Bimbo" was the founder's nickname) that it's some sort of burlesque house*.

At any rate, many, many years ago, the late Ms. Kellerman had some sort of one-woman show there. I have no idea what kind of one-woman show, whether it was dramatic, or stand-up, or (most likely, since Wikipedia says she was also a singer) musical in nature; it is literally the one act that has ever been at Bimbo's, while I was in town, that I had even the slightest interest in seeing, and I missed it. Which is something I regret, even though I haven't the slightest idea what she was doing there.

_____
*Whenever I arrive in San Francisco, since the cabbies don't necessarily know the Columbus, I typically say, "It's on Columbus, right next door to Bimbo's," and they immediately know where I'm going.

 

[Warped9]

I think the show might have been better off going with Dr. Dehner instead of Dr. McCoy. Star Trek's whole problem with helpless, beehived women fetching coffee would have been more than balanced off by Sally Kellerman as the confident, business-like ship's surgeon, Kirk's platonic friend, and Spock's foil.

IF I were rebooting TOS in a (somewhat) more modern vein I would seriously consider making Leonard McCoy into Lenora McCoy to give the department heads more female presence similar to what they did in TNG. You could still establish a friendship between Kirk and McCoy without suggesting sexual tension or romantic possibility.

Another approach would be to simply give Uhura, Rand and Chapel more prominent roles.

 

[Neopeius]

IF I were rebooting TOS in a (somewhat) more modern vein I would seriously consider making Leonard McCoy into Lenora McCoy to give the department heads more female presence similar to what they did in TNG. You could still establish a friendship between Kirk and McCoy without suggesting sexual tension or romantic possibility.

I'd gender flip everyone.

 

[Warped9]

I'd gender flip everyone.

That I would definitely not do. I find myself noticing certain things being done on television that I find totally unbelievable and unconvincing.

Case in point. I cannot buy into the new The Equalizer. It just doesn’t work for me. It isn’t that I think the original series was that stellar—in its day it was okay and kinda fun—but after watching the new version I just find it unconvincing. It plays to a mindset floating around that the women have it all over the guys in brains and capability. Then again the networks are playing to an audience as more and more men look to be abandoning network programming.

On the flipside my favourite character on Law & Order: SVU has always been Olivia Benson. Of all the cop shows I’ve seen over the years she was the best of very few I found credible and convincing as a police officer. This isn’t including the number of women characters in the DA’s office I’ve liked.

 

[Neopeius]

That I would definitely not do. I find myself noticing certain things being done on television that I find totally unbelievable and unconvincing..

Is it unbelievable in any random group of, say, seven people, to have a majority of one gender or another?

 

[Warped9]

Is it unbelievable in any random group of, say, seven people, to have a majority of one gender or another?

You suggested gender flipping all the characters so that means the majority of the main characters would all be women. So that accomplishes nothing. And depicting an all female command crew in a military setting I would find unbelievable.

If you want to do that then create a new property.

And I say this as someone who has written TOS fanfic that depicted women as starship captains. It also would have been something to see in TOS. There are a number of ship Captains or flag officers that could have been played by a woman. and at the time it would have been as noteworthy as seeing Commodore Stone played by a black man. It would have given TOS’ worldbuilding some added substance in the future they were depicting.

What I would have resisted would have been casting Matt Decker, Ron Tracy, John Merrick or Commodore Stocker as women as those unstable characters would have perpetuated the stereotype of women being less mentally stable than men.

But Commodore Mendez, Admiral Komack, Admiral Fitzpatrick, Commodore Barstow, Commodore Wesley, Captain Krasnowski or Captain Chandra could have been played by women. No, few of them were truly prominent roles, but they would have really added to the worldbuilding.

It was something I was glad to see in Star Trek Continues, but then they shot themselves in the foot with their truly stupid rationalization why women were not allowed to be starship captains. Pissed me off royally.

 

[mb22]

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[publiusr]

Aw, RIP. I thought her performance as Dehner was fantastic. Now I need to watch Where No Man Has Gone Before again. Pass gently, Ms. Kellerman.

I never would have guessed she was the same actress that was in MASH.

 

[Kirk1980]

Yep, between her as Hot Lips and Lockwood as Dave in 2001, you had some really great guest stars in Where No Man Has Gone Before!

 

[J.T.B.]

Lockwood as Dave in 2001

Or Frank, anyway.

 

[Kirk1980]

I thought he was Dave? Oops:P My bad. Must confess to not having watched that movie very closely. I honestly found it kinda dull.

 

[Talos IV]

Sally Kellerman was superb in the Outer Limits episode "The Bellero Shield." Someone once called her character in it "a scheming witch that would give Lady Macbeth pause." And Kellerman played her perfectly.

Excellent actress. Rest in Peace, Sally.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I thought he was Dave? Oops:P My bad. Must confess to not having watched that movie very closely. I honestly found it kinda dull.

Yeah, Gary Lockwood played Frank Poole. Dave Bowman was played by Keir Dullea

 

[Phaser Two]

Sally Kellerman was superb in the Outer Limits episode "The Bellero Shield." Someone once called her character in it "a scheming witch that would give Lady Macbeth pause." And Kellerman played her perfectly.

Excellent actress. Rest in Peace, Sally.

This sounds fascinating, because as far as I know she was usually a white hat (to the extent that Dehner is one, which I think she is). Is this ep of the Outer Limits available anywhere to stream that you're aware of? Thanks in advance.

 

[J.T.B.]

This sounds fascinating, because as far as I know she was usually a white hat (to the extent that Dehner is one, which I think she is).

No question, she saves the day!

Is this ep of the Outer Limits available anywhere to stream that you're aware of? Thanks in advance.

The original seasons are currently available free with ads on The Roku Channel.

 

[Noname Given]

This sounds fascinating, because as far as I know she was usually a white hat (to the extent that Dehner is one, which I think she is). Is this ep of the Outer Limits available anywhere to stream that you're aware of? Thanks in advance.

I know the original (1963) series episodes are all free to stream on Roku.

 

[BillJ]

RIP Ms. Kellerman. Thanks for your contributions to the final frontier.

 

[Phaser Two]

The original seasons are currently available free with ads on The Roku Channel.

One of my favorite channels. Thanks.