Sally Kellerman's Nude M*A*S*H Moment Had Everyone Naked Behind The Scenes
The 1970 movie "M*A*S*H" is quite a bit different than the television series it inspired, featuring even raunchier humor, darker themes, and more blood and gore. It's rated R and features all of the swearing, violence, and nudity that can come with that rating. The movie's famous nude scene features the late Sally Kellerman as Chief Nurse Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan taking a shower when the pranksters of the medical unit pull away the flaps of her tent, revealing her naked for all to see. While the scene plays pretty differently now than it did in 1970, at the time it was just a raunchy joke, and Kellerman was mostly game. The only problem was that she was really nervous about her first nude scene ever in a film, and that led to some problems with her performance. To take care of this nervousness, director Robert Altman decided to distract her with ... additional nudity!
In the book "Robert Altman: The Oral Biography" by Mitchell Zuckoff, Kellerman recounts the outrageous antics behind the scenes that mirrored those onscreen, helping her to make it through the scene. While there have been other stories of cast mates and even directors getting nude in order to make the onscreen performers feel less alone, Altman took a totally different tack.
Some unusual distractions
In the scene, Hot Lips is supposed to do whatever she can to cover herself up after realizing that she's been exposed, but because of Kellerman's nerves, she kept dropping down to cover herself as soon as the tent flaps opened. That didn't exactly work for the shot because audiences wouldn't be able to figure out what was going on, so Altman decided to distract Kellerman, as she recalled:
"When I looked up, there was Gary Burghoff stark naked standing in front of me. The next take, [Altman] had Tamara Horrocks, she was the more amply endowed nurse, without her shirt on ... So I attribute my Academy Award nomination to the people who made my mouth hang open when I hit the deck."
While this entire situation sounds like a lawsuit these days, at the time everyone apparently thought it was pretty funny and it all worked out in the end. There's something about the lack of sexism in having both a male and female co-star flash Kellerman that makes it feel less predatory than if it had just been a bunch of guys, and Kellerman seemed to have a good sense of humor about the whole ordeal. For those who think the scene is unnecessary, however, the best defense comes from co-star René Auberjonois, who played the film version of Father Mulcahy.
A chaotic scene
The experience for the character of Hot Lips is absolutely humiliating, but it also provided a moment for the rest of the cast to bare themselves in a very different way. The late, great Auberjonois explains:
"When they drop the tent and she's naked, my character covers the face of the houseboy. In that sequence, it's like a 'Mad' magazine cover, in which everyone does something that illuminates their character. It's worth looking at that shot because it shows the gift that [Altman] gives actors."
When looking back at the scene (which is represented in a still above, complete with Auberjonois covering the boy's face), you really can see all of the different reactions these characters have to the uptight Hot Lips being hazed into being a part of the gang, essentially. Some of the men are clapping, some are leering, and even the women are laughing. It's a moment that shows each of them for who they really are, trapped within the hell of war but still occasionally finding ways to laugh. It's the kind of moment that would definitely translate over to the television series, and it's all thanks to a couple of co-stars willing to go the extra (naked) mile.