MASH actor Loretta Swit dies at 87: Who was she?
Actor Loretta Swit, best known for playing Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on the hit TV show MASH, died at the age of 87, reported The Hollywood Reporter citing her publicist.
Her death, at her home in Manhattan, was announced by her publicist, who said she was believed to have died of natural causes.
Loretta Swit's publicist, Harlan Boll, said the actress passed away just after midnight on Friday at her home in New York City. The cause is believed to be natural, according to a police report.
Born Loretta Jane Szwed on November 4, 1937, in Passaic, New Jersey, she studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She moved to Los Angeles in 1970, where she began landing television roles.
In her later years, she focused on animal rights and returned to the screen in 2019 in a faith-based film Play the Flute. She was married to actor Dennis Holahan, whom she met on MASH*, from 1983 to 1995. Actress Loretta Swit attends the 2018 Farm Sanctuary on the Hudson Gala at Pier 60 on October 4, 2018 in New York City.
Swit was a key part of the seminal Korean War comedy series "M*A*S*H" from the beginning to the end, appearing in 240 out of 251 episodes during its sensational 11-season run.
For her role, Swit was nominated for an Emmy 10 times and won twice. Only Alan Alda, who played Hawkeye Pierce, shared the honour of appearing in both the pilot and the final episode of the series.
The show sprang from an Oscar-winning 1970 film. It was aired initially in 1972 and was a hit until it finished in 1983. The comedy was set in a field hospital for the US Army during the Korean War, and starred Alan Alda as Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce.
According to Reuters, the series tackled a range of issues from the tragic to the light-hearted, and was sometimes seen as a satire on US involvement in Vietnam -- a war that was still happening when it first began airing. Loretta Swit presents a tribute to "Mr. Rogers" at the 45th annual Daytime Emmy Awards on April 29, 2018, in Pasadena, Calif.
The finale episode of MASH, which was aired on February 28, 1983, remains one of the most-watched television episodes in history, with nearly 106 million viewers.
A kiss between Swit and Alda during that episode is often called the most expensive in TV history, due to how much ad space cost during the broadcast, as per The Hollywood Reporter.
Loretta Swit also worked in films like Freebie and the Bean (1974), Race With the Devil (1975), and S.O.B. (1981). She was also known for her work on stage, including performances in The Odd Couple, Any Wednesday, and Same Time, Next Year on Broadway.
Swit played a lead role in the original Cagney & Lacey pilot in 1981. However, because of her MASH* contract, she could not continue in the role when the series was picked up by CBS, as per the publication.
Other movies during Swit's career included "Race With the Devil," a 1975 horror starring Peter Fonda, and 1972's "Stand Up and Be Counted" with Jacqueline Bisset.
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