Loretta Swit, who played Margaret ‘Hot Lips' Houlihan on ‘M*A*S*H,' dead at 87
Loretta Swit, who was best known for playing Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan on the classic sitcom 'M*A*S*H,' has passed away. She was 87.
The beloved actress' publicist, Harlan Boll, confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.
Swit died of suspected natural causes shortly after midnight on Friday, May 30, at her home in New York City, according to Boll.
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5 Loretta Swit has passed away at the age of 87.
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Besides starring in 'M*A*S*H' from its pilot episode in September 1972 to its finale in February 1983, Swit also appeared alongside Tyne Daly, 79, on the pilot episode of the police drama 'Cagney & Lacey' in 1981.
However, due to contractual obligations that she had to the Korean War sitcom, Swit was forced to depart 'Cagney & Lacey' when it was picked up by CBS one year later.
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Born on Nov. 4, 1937, in Passaic, New Jersey, Swit studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York before moving to Los Angeles in 1970.
5 Swit as Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan on the classic army sitcom 'M*A*S*H.'
©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
She landed small gigs on classic TV shows like 'Mission: Impossible,' 'Gunsmoke,' 'Hawaii Five-O' and 'Cade's County.'
Swit thanked her appearance on 'Cade's County' in 1971 for providing her the opportunity to star in 'M*A*S*H' one year later.
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'I had done a guest-starring role on Glenn Ford's CBS series, 'Cade's County,' which was short-lived, but it was a wonderful role,' the actress said during an interview in 2004. 'The network people, as well as Fox, knew about me, and when the part came up, they thought of me.'
5 Swit one two Emmys for her performance as Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan.
Paul Zimmerman
Swit also praised her 'M*A*S*H' character as 'unique,' even if 'nobody appreciated her' within the show.
'She was unique at the time and in her time, which was the '50s, when the Korean War was happening,' Swit explained. 'And she became even more unique, I think, because we allowed her to continue to grow – we watched her evolve. I don't think that's ever been done in quite that way.'
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'She was the head nurse, and her ambition was to be the best damn nurse in Korea, and I tried to help her achieve that,' she continued. 'That woman was so lonely, and she was trying to do such a good job. And nobody appreciated her.'
5 She appeared in 240 of the show's 251 episodes.
©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
'M*A*S*H,' which also starred Alan Alda (Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce), Jamie Farr (Maxwell Q. Klinger), Wayne Rogers (Trapper John McIntyre) and Harry Morgan (Sherman T. Potter), followed key personnel in the United States Army's Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.
The series ran for an impressive 11 seasons from 1972 to 1983 on CBS, and Swit was awarded two Emmys for her performance as Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan.
She also appeared in 240 of the show's 251 episodes, which was the most of any character besides Alda's 'Hawkeye' Pierce, who appeared in every episode.
5 'That's one hell of a legacy,' Swit said of the impact 'M*A*S*H' had on American audiences.
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The series was based on the movie of the same name, which came out in 1970.
Sally Kellerman, who played the original Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan in the 1970 movie, passed away in 2022 at the age of 84.
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Once, when asked about the impact that 'M*A*S*H' had on American audiences, Swit mentioned a telegram she had received from a fan.
'It said, 'Dear M*A*S*H folk: You made me laugh. You made me cry. You made me feel. Thank you.' I've never forgotten that,' Swit recalled years before her passing. 'That's one hell of a legacy.'
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