Latest news with #MASH
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Loretta Swit, M*A*S*H Star, Dies at 87
Loretta Swit, beloved for her groundbreaking role as Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan on M*A*S*H, died on May 30, 2025. She was 87. Swit's portrayal of Major Houlihan helped transform the character from a punchline to a powerful presence—one of the first truly complex female figures in primetime comedy. Over the show's 11-season run, Swit was nominated for an Emmy every season, winning twice, in 1980 and 1982. Her passing drew heartfelt tributes from fans and longtime co-stars Alan Alda, Mike Farrell, and Jamie Farr, as well as from PETA, where she was a passionate advocate for animal rights. Jamie Farr said in a statement released to USA Today: 'I dearly loved Loretta! As close as family can get… I can't begin to express how much she will be missed.' According to PETA's website, Swit 'worked with many animal charities and had her own called 'SwitHeart Animal Alliance.' This charity works to bring back dogs from Afghanistan to reunite them with their human companions and matches veterans with homeless animals.' They also ask that those who can would adopt a new friend from a shelter in her memory. Behind the scenes, Swit was a vocal advocate for gender equity, pushing for deeper storylines for women both in the writers' room and onscreen. Standing up to a male-dominated industry can be lonely. In one memorable scene, Major Houlihan finally expresses her loneliness and need for someone on her side, but Swit is clearly speaking from her own heart. ☕️ #ClassicMASH #MASH #mash4077 #war #majormargarethoulihan #margarethoulihan #hotlips #lorettaswit #coffee " class="tiktok-embed" data-video-id="7251202849466535211"> Though set during the Korean War, M*A*S*H spoke to a generation grappling with Vietnam, Watergate, and shifting social norms. The show's mix of humor and heartbreak helped audiences process the real costs of war and still does. It continues to air in reruns, especially around Memorial Day and Veterans Day, reminding viewers that behind every uniform is a human story. Swit's legacy lives on in those stories and in the countless lives she touched, both on and off screen.
Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
MASH cast now – Emmy Award winning star to one woman show
It was announced this week that Loretta Swit, who was best known for her work on M*A*S*H, had died at the age of 87, but here we look at where her co-stars are now M*A*S*H first started in 1973 and spanned for a decade and 11 seasons. The iconic show saw plenty of well-known faces rise to fame, being part of the series. The show was a comedy-drama which followed the staff at the United States Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War which was between 1950 to 1953. The programme drew audiences across the world, with the final episode in 1983 reportedly bringing in an audience of more than 125 million viewers. The main cast all reunited back in January 2024 as they got together for a two hour reunion episode where they reminisced on the show. Here's what the original cast are doing now. Loretta Swit Loretta Swit played the role of 'Hot Lips' Major Margaret Houlihan and appeared in every episode including the pilot and went on to star in Whoops Apocalypse, S. O. She went on to win two Emmys throughout her career as well as landing role in The Love Boat and Cagney & Lacey throughout the 1980s. Aside from this, Loretta didn't have an acting credit after this, apart from the film Play The Flute in 2019. However, she starred in a one-woman touring stage production of Eleanor: Her Secret Journey as Eleanor Roosevelt in 2013. It was announced on Friday, May 30, 2025, that Loretta had died at the age of 87. Her representative, Harlan Boll, claimed that the New York Police Department stated that the actor died of suspected natural causes. Alan Alda Alan Alda was Captain Benjamin Franklin 'Hawkeye' Pierce, who was known as a prankster on the series. Alan's acting career went from strength to strength after M*A*S*H ended. He starred in a number of TV shows like The Blacklist, Horace and Pete, Marriage Story, Bridge of Spies and The Big C. His most recent work includes starring as Dr Arthur Amiot on Ray Donovan and as Solomon Waltzer on The Good Fight. Wayne Rogers Captain 'Trapper' John McIntyre was played by actor Wayne Rogers. However, he was one of the shortest serving actors as he decided to leave after three series. It was reported that he wanted to leave due to appearing as a supporting role rather than a main character. After leaving, Wayne starred in Murder, She Wrote, Once Upon a Murder and House Calls. He died in 2015 when he was 82 after complications from pneumonia. McLean Stevenson McLean Stevenson took on the role of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in M*A*S*H. However, like Wayne Rogers, he also decided to leave after series three. His character was then killed off which ended in backlash from angry viewers. After leaving, Stevenson starred in the Dirty Dancing TV series, The Love Boat, Tales of the City and Diff'rent Strokes.
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Loretta Swit obituary
The American actor Loretta Swit, who has died aged 87, achieved worldwide fame as Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan, head nurse with a mobile army hospital during the Korean war, in the TV sitcom M*A*S*H. She appeared in all 11 series, from 1972 to 1983 – longer than the conflict that inspired it – taking over the role played by Sally Kellerman in the 1970 film. Misogyny ran throughout the big-screen version of M*A*S*H in a way that was not present in the 1968 novel by Richard Hooker on which it was the TV version, too, Major Houlihan, a strict disciplinarian, was the butt of sexist jokes from the surgeons and other men in the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital unit, particularly 'Hawkeye' Pierce (played by Alan Alda). Swit – who had the only leading female role in the show – took a stand before the fifth series began. She was then allowed to contribute to her character's development, making Houlihan more three-dimensional, warm and brave. 'I am a feminist, from the top of my head to the bottom of my toenail, and I favour playing strong women,' she told the American magazine Closer Weekly in 2022. From then on, Swit's character was referred to mainly by her real name rather than as 'Hot Lips' and a more human side emerged when Houlihan broke down in front of her nurses, confessing she was hurt by the disdain they held for her because of her stern manner. The character's long-running relationship with Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville) ended and she married Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscott (first played by Beeson Carroll and then Mike Henry), whom she later divorced when he cheated on her. Swit's performance won her two Emmy awards as outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, in 1980 and 1982. She might have had global recognition for a second TV role, in a programme that was groundbreaking for its portrayal of women, if the M*A*S*H producers had not refused to let her out of her contract. Swit played the police detective Christine Cagney, alongside Tyne Daly as Mary Beth Lacey, in the feature-length 1981 pilot of Cagney & Lacey. It was the first American police drama to feature women in the two lead roles. In Cagney & Lacey, there was gritty realism and the authenticity of women balancing their work and home lives but, as Swit was unavailable, Meg Foster took over as Cagney when the series began, replaced after six episodes by Sharon Gless. Swit never had another starring vehicle. 'Actors are always identified with certain parts,' she said. 'To some, Marlon Brando will always be the Godfather. That's just how it is.' Perhaps her best film role was as the first female American president – succeeding a former circus clown, a parody of Ronald Reagan – in Whoops Apocalypse (1986), the writers Andrew Marshall and David Renwick's variation on their British sitcom. Loretta was born in Passaic, New Jersey, to parents of Polish descent, Nellie (nee Kassack) and Lester Szwed, an upholsterer, who anglicised the family name to Swit. She attended Pope Pius XII high school, Passaic, where she appeared in school plays, and Gibbs College, Montclair, New Jersey, then had various secretarial jobs. Moving to New York, she trained in acting with Gene Frankel at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating in 1959. Her break in New York theatre came off-Broadway, at the Circle in the Square in 1961 when she joined the cast of the long-running Actors' Playhouse production of The Balcony, by Jean Genet. She spent the rest of the decade exclusively on stage until travelling to Hollywood in 1969. Then, she began to get small roles on television, including three in Hawaii Five-O (between 1969 and 1972) and two in Gunsmoke (both in 1970). Later, she starred on Broadway as Doris in Bernard Slade's 'annual adultery' play Same Time, Next Year (Brooks Atkinson theatre, 1975-76), taking over the role originated by Ellen Burstyn. The New York Times observed that she gave a 'stylish impersonation' of Burstyn, who had won a Tony award for her performance. Swit was on Broadway again in Rupert Holmes's musical version of Charles Dickens's unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Imperial theatre, 1985-86), replacing Cleo Laine in the dual roles of the Princess Puffer and Miss Angela Prysock. One stage part that seemed made for Swit was the title character in the British playwright Willy Russell's one-woman show Shirley Valentine, which she took first in Chicago (Wellington and Wisdom Bridge theatres, 1990), then on an American tour (1995) and Canadian stages (1997 and 2010). The role of the bored Liverpool housewife escaping her humdrum life and uncaring husband had been played in the West End of London and the film version by Pauline Collins, who also took it to Broadway. Swit said of the character: 'A lot of her experiences are universal – her ambition and desire, her lust for life and feelings of frustration at not fulfilling certain aspects of her own potential. I had kinship with her the moment I read the script.' Eve Ensler's comic and at times seriously political play The Vagina Monologues had Swit as one of the three women taking multiple roles, first at the Westside theatre in New York (1999), then in the West End (Arts theatre, 2001-02) and on an American tour (2002-03). The actor was a passionate animal activist and supported many charities, as well as setting up her own, SwitHeart Animal Alliance. Her book SwitHeart: The Watercolour Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit was published in 2017. Swit's 1983 marriage to the actor and lawyer Dennis Holahan ended in divorce 12 years later. Loretta Jane Swit, actor, born 4 November 1937; died 30 May 2025
The Independent
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Emmy-winning actress who transformed M.A.S.H role dies aged 87
Loretta Swit, best known for her role as Major Margaret Houlihan on the TV series M.A.S.H., has died at the age of 87. Swit died at her home in Manhattan on Friday, with her publicist stating that the cause of death was likely natural causes. Her portrayal of head Army nurse Houlihan earned her 10 consecutive Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, winning twice in 1980 and 1982. Swit's influence on scriptwriters helped transform Houlihan from a one-dimensional character into a more complex and realistic person, reflecting the growing awareness of feminism in the 1970s. M.A.S.H star Alan Alda praised Swit as a 'supremely talented actor' and how she transformed the character previously known as 'Hot Lips' to being known as 'Margaret'.
Time of India
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Loretta Swit, Emmy-winning actress who brought soul to ‘Hot Lips' Houlihan on ‘MASH' passes away at 87
, the Emmy-winning actress who brought humanity and strength to one of television's most memorable characters on 'MASH', has passed away at the age of 87. Her publicist, Harlan Boll, confirmed to Variety that Loretta passed away from natural causes at her home in New York City on Friday. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Swit's portrayal of Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan was a cornerstone of the iconic wartime dramedy, which aired from 1972 to 1983. What began as a one-dimensional, strict character evolved into a deeply complex and sympathetic figure, largely thanks to Swit's own efforts and vision for the role. From Stereotype to Soulful Character Initially introduced as a rigid and often mocked army nurse involved with the weak Frank Burns, Houlihan was seen more as comic relief than a fully developed character. But as the series progressed, so did Margaret — and it was Loretta Swit who led that change. Alan Alda, her 'MAS*H' co-star, honoured her legacy in a heartfelt post on X (formerly Twitter): 'Loretta was a supremely talented actor… She worked hard to show the writers how they could turn the character from a one-joke sexist stereotype into a real person.' He recalled the turning point when scripts began referring to her as 'Margaret' instead of 'Hot Lips', a shift that reflected Swit's commitment to giving her character depth and dignity. Episodes like 'The Nurses', 'Mail Call Again', and 'Comrades in Arms' revealed a woman struggling with loneliness, leadership, and love. Swit's portrayal of Margaret's emotional moments and quiet confessions struck a powerful chord with audiences, forever reshaping the character's legacy. A Career Beyond the 4077th After 'MASH' ended, Swit remained active in television and film throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now She starred in the Emmy-nominated holiday movie 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever' (1983), tackled intense themes in 'The Execution' (1985), and made guest appearances in classics like 'Murder, She Wrote' and 'Diagnosis: Murder'. She also appeared in films ranging from action-comedies like 'Freebie and the Bean' to political satire such as 'Whoops Apocalypse'. Swit's versatility extended to the stage, where she appeared in Broadway productions like 'Same Time, Next Year' and 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'. She even showcased her musical talents in adaptations like 'It's a Bird… It's a Plane… It's Superman!' Beyond the Screen: Advocate for Animals and Compassion Off-camera, Loretta Swit was equally passionate about animal rights. She founded the SwitHeart Animal Alliance, an organisation dedicated to raising awareness and funds for animal welfare causes. Her dedication earned her numerous awards, including the prestigious Betty White Award from Actors and Others for Animals. Born Loretta Jane Szwed in Passaic, New Jersey, to Polish immigrant parents, Swit defied the odds by pursuing her dream of acting from the age of seven. After studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and training with Gene Frankel, she built a career grounded in both talent and determination.
