Of Sally Kirkland and “Sallywood”

How fitting that Sally Kirkland (b. 1941) was born on Halloween, not because she’s monstrous, far from it (see above), in fact, she’s more like a beguiling witch from the sexy costume aisle at the masquerade store. Her Halloween cred is enhanced by the fact that she was Golden Globe nominated for her performance in The Haunted (1991), and was also in Two Evil Eyes (1990) co-directed by George Romero and Dario Argento. And the 1984 slasher film Fatal Games!

Born into a wealthy mainline Philadelphia family, Kirkland is a second generation beauty. Her mother, also Sally Kirkland (1912-1989), was fashion editor at Vogue and Life magazine. Sally the Younger started out as a model, while studying acting at the American Academy for Dramatic Arts and the Actor’s Studio. Throughout the ’60s she appeared in Off and Off-Off Broadway theatre in New York, and was a member of Andy Warhol’s Factory, appearing in some of his films, notably The 13 Most Beautiful Women (1964). She was also in two underground movies by Piero Heliczer, Dirt and Satisfaction (both 1965), as well as the more mainstream Hey, Let’s Twist (1961) with Joey Dee and the Starliters. Her early features include the spaghetti western Blue (1968) with Terrence Stamp, the X-rated Coming Apart (1969) opposite Rip Torn, Tom O’Horgan’s Futz (1969), and The Young Nurses, the 1973 sequel to The Student Nurses.

Through most of the ’70s and early ’80s she secured a series of small supporting roles in very high profile film projects, including The Way We Were (1973), Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Sting (1973), Blazing Saddles(1974), Big Bad Mama (1974), Bite the Bullet (1975), Crazy Mama (1975), A Star is Born (1976), Private Benjamin (1980), The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981), and Neil Young’sHuman Highway (1982), as well as major TV movies like Death Scream (1975) and Griffin and Phoenix (1976). During the same years she guest starred on shows like Hawaii Five-O,Kojak, Baretta,Starsky and Hutch, The Incredible Hulk, Charlie’s Angels, and Supertrain.

Her career pivoted with her critically lauded star turn in the indie art film Anna (1987), which earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Glove award. Still gorgeous in her mid ’40s, she enjoyed several years of better parts and a raised profile. Films of this period include Paint it Black (1989), Bullseye (1990) with Michael Caine and Roger Moore, Oliver Stone’sJFK (1991), EDtv (1999), and Bruce Almighty (2003), and she played the plum role of Helen Lawson in the 1994 tv series based on Valley of the Dolls.

Though Kirkland was a well trained and capable actress, her public image had a lot in common with the likes of Angelyne and Anna Nicole Smith. She came across as a good time gal both on and off the screen, and it seems to have prevented her from landing more substantive roles. Over the decades she ended up doing lots and lots of low budget exploitational shlock. Which raises the subect of her latest project:

Sallywood (2024) is a sui generis labor of love written and directed by Kirkwood’s former personal assistant Xaque Gruber. It is not a documentary, however, but a campy, rollicking bio-pic in which Kirkland (in the tradition of Evel Knievel and Muhammad Ali) plays herself. Gruber’s alter ego is played by Tyler Steelman, a unique presence whose personality mixes elements of Paul Reubens,Truman Capote, Richard Schiff, and Jeremy Allen White. The film itself has elements of Harold and Maude (a May-December friendship), My Favorite Year (inexperienced naif must wrangle a difficult star), and tongue in cheek biographical films like Weird: The Al Yankovic Storyand the many pleasing concoctions of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, such as Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon, and, Dolemite Is My Name. It’s also not unlike Hacks.

Kirkland is a real sport, I must say, playing a very broad self-parody that puts a tragicomic spin on her reduced circumstances. She is self-important, refers to herself in the third person, all while living paycheck to paycheck, trying to stay afloat in an age-ist, sexist business in an 83 year old body. As an added bonus the entire cast is made up of several other once major stars, many of whom had either appeared in previous films with Kirkwood, or perhaps simply are fans: these include: Keith Carradine, Jennifer Tilly, Eric Roberts, Maria Conchita Alonso,Michael Lerner, and Lenny Von Dohlen. To add even more poignancy, Sallywood was the final film of the last two named actors. They both passed away prior to its release.

Wanna see it? This goes out to Angelinos: there will be a public screening followed by a Q&A with Filmmaker & Cast on Thursday, November 7 at 7:00pm at the Laemmle Royal in Santa Monica, followed by a limited one-week theatrical engagement starting November 8 at the Laemmle Town Center 5. For more information about that, the film in general, and other future screenings, go here.