{"id":145369,"date":"2025-05-30T23:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T23:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/145369\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T23:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T23:44:13","slug":"hot-lips-houlihan-on-mash-was-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/145369\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan on ‘M*A*S*H’ Was 87"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLoretta Swit, the actress and animal activist forever known for her pioneering turn as the disciplined Maj. Margaret \u201cHot Lips\u201d Houlihan on the acclaimed CBS sitcom\u00a0M*A*S*H<\/a>, has died. She was 87.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to a police report, Swit died just after midnight Friday of suspected natural causes at her home in New York City, her publicist, Harlan Boll, announced.<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit won two Emmys for her portrayal of the Army nurse \u2014 she was nominated 10 times, every year the show was on the air except the first \u2014 and appeared on 240 of the series\u2019 251 episodes during its sensational 11-season run.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdapting the character from Sally Kellerman<\/a>\u2018s film portrayal of the lusty powerhouse, Swit was one of only two actors (along with Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce) to have a role in both the pilot and series finale of\u00a0M*A*S*H.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThat finale, which aired Feb. 28, 1983, attracted a record of nearly 106 million viewers, and a 35-second kiss between Swit and Alda during that episode has been called the most expensive in television history, based on its length and the ad revenue per minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a tough, by-the-book major, Swit\u2019s Houlihan was a rare strong woman on television. \u201cShe was [unique] at the time and in her time, which was the \u201950s, when [the Korean War] was happening,\u201d Swit said<\/a> in a 2004 discussion for the TV Academy Foundation website The Interviews: An Oral History of Television.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd she became even more unique, I think, because we allowed her to continue to grow \u2014 we watched her evolve. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s ever been done in quite that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBolstered by her\u00a0M*A*S*H\u00a0fame, Swit performed in a number of movies, including\u00a0Freebie and the Bean (1974), Race With the Devil (1975) and\u00a0BoardHeads\u00a0(1998). She also was hilarious as Polly Reed, a Sue Mengers-type agent, in Blake Edwards<\/a>\u2018 satire of Hollywood, S.O.B. (1981).<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit starred alongside Tyne Daly on the 1981 pilot for\u00a0Cagney & Lacey, but because of contractual obligations to\u00a0M*A*S*H, she could not continue when the cop series was picked up by CBS a year later. After Meg Foster played Cagney in the six-episode first season, Sharon Gless took over the role.<\/p>\n

\n\tActive in theater, Swit starred as one of the daffy Pigeon sisters during the L.A. run of Neil Simon\u2019s\u00a0The Odd Couple\u00a0that starred Don Rickles<\/a> and Ernest Borgnine as the ill-matched roommates.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1967, she starred in a national tour of\u00a0Any Wednesday\u00a0with Gardner McKay. Eight years later, she made her Broadway debut in\u00a0Same Time, Next Year\u00a0opposite Ted Bessell (That Girl). She also played on Broadway in\u00a0The Mystery of Edwin Drood.<\/p>\n

\n\tLoretta Jane Szwed was born on Nov. 4, 1937, in Passaic, New Jersey. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and performed in repertory.<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit moved to Los Angeles in 1970 and landed TV gigs on such series as\u00a0Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Gunsmoke and\u00a0Hawaii Five-O\u00a0and in the women\u2019s lib film\u00a0Stand Up and Be Counted\u00a0(1972). Those parts led to Swit being considered for\u00a0M*A*S*H, produced by Fox.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had done a guest-starring role [in the premiere episode in 1971] on Glenn Ford\u2019s CBS series,\u00a0Cade\u2019s County, which was short-lived, but it was a wonderful role,\u201d she said. \u201cThe network people, as well as Fox, knew about me, and when the part came up, they thought of me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit always pushed for Houlihan to grow in maturity and complexity. Her character cut off her affair with the \u201clipless wonder\u201d Frank Burns (Larry Linville) to marry a soldier she could be proud of (Lt. Col. Donald Penobscott, though they quickly divorced) and revealed her vulnerability to those under her command in the season-five episode \u201cThe Nurses.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe was the head nurse, and her ambition was to be the best damn nurse in Korea, and I tried to help her achieve that,\u201d Swit recalled. But in \u201cThe Nurses,\u201d Houlihan\u2019s conflicted relationship with authority comes into focus when,\u00a0in a memorable monologue, she confronts her subordinates for not including her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat woman was so lonely, and she was trying to do such a good job. And nobody appreciated her,\u201d Swit recalled in a\u00a0THR\u00a0oral history<\/a> that marked the show\u2019s 35th anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGene [Reynolds<\/a>, the show\u2019s executive producer] called me the next morning after shooting it and said they\u2019d watched the dailies, and my scene was last. When the lights went up, everyone was sniffling,\u201d she said. \u201cHe asked the projectionist to run the scene again. The lights go out and they watched it again. The lights go up and everyone\u2019s still crying. He says to everyone, \u2018Is that the best thing you ever saw?’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit was able to carry those kinds of dramatic moments with her character throughout the series. \u201cI was allowed to continue to grow,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t bounce back to where I was before you saw this happen to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe noted that the cast was tight-knit from the very start, and things got emotional when they shot the finale. One especially touching moment comes when Swit and Harry Morgan<\/a> (Col. Sherman Potter) say their goodbyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe could hardly rehearse,\u201d she told\u00a0THR. \u201cI had to look at this man whom I adore and say, \u2018You dear, sweet man, I\u2019ll never forget you,\u2019 without getting emotional \u2014 and I couldn\u2019t. I can\u2019t now even. [Morgan died in 2011.] It wasn\u2019t words on a page. You knew what you were saying was truth.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit became the first\u00a0M*A*S*H\u00a0castmember to visit Korea when, in 1988, she hosted the syndicated documentary\u00a0Korean War \u2014 The Untold Story. The doc combined interviews with American veterans and combat footage and was released in conjunction with the 35th anniversary of the truce that ended the fighting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tApart from her acting career, Swit was an active supporter of animal welfare, serving on the boards of Actors and Others for Animals and The Wildlife Waystation and as a spokesperson for the Humane Society. In 2016, she founded SwitHeart Animal Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to ending animal cruelty. She used proceeds from her original artwork to raise funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit also was host of the cable documentary series\u00a0Those Incredible Animals\u00a0in 1992 and teamed with\u00a0M*A*S*H\u00a0co-star Mike Farrell (B.J. Hunnicut) to host the 1986 PBS special\u00a0Saving the Wildlife, which highlighted efforts by Jane Goodall, Brigitte Bardot and Prince Philip<\/a> to protect endangered species.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit was named Woman of the Year by the Animal Protection Institute and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. She testified before Congress in 1999, speaking out for the prohibition of \u201ccrush videos\u201d \u2014 productions where insects and small animals are squashed onscreen.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe was active in the Chicago theater community and performed the one-woman play\u00a0Shirley Valentine\u00a0more than 1,000 times. She received the Sarah Siddons Award in 1991 for her theatrical contributions and in 2003 joined the touring cast of\u00a0The Vagina Monologues.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat same year, she played the title role in a North Carolina production of\u00a0Mame\u00a0\u2014 she had starred as Agnes Gooch in 1968 in Las Vegas after serving as an understudy on the Broadway show headlined by Angela Lansbury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit said her career came full circle when, in 1994, she guest-starred on\u00a0Murder, She Wrote\u00a0alongside Lansbury. \u201cAngie is one of two fan letters I\u2019ve ever written in my life. The other was to Robert Mitchum,\u201d she recalled. \u201cShe was just dazzling [in\u00a0Mame]. Years later, when we met at a CBS function, I said, \u2018You probably won\u2019t remember this, but when I was in New York \u2026\u2019 I don\u2019t think I got further than that and she stopped me and said, \u2018I still have that letter.’\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA talented singer and dancer who had been enrolled in dance classes as a youngster, Swit also performed on\u00a0The Muppet Show\u00a0and in a number of musical TV specials. And she was a game-show regular on\u00a0Match Game,\u00a0The Hollywood Squares\u00a0and\u00a0The $10,000 Pyramid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2019, after a 21-year absence, she returned to the screen in the religious film\u00a0Play the Flute, about a youth group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSwit was married to actor Dennis Holahan, whom she met on the set of\u00a0M*A*S*H, from 1983 until their divorce in 1995.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDonations in her memory can be to\u00a0Actors & Others for Animals<\/a> or\u00a0the SwitHeart Animal\u00a0Alliance<\/a>, which she set up to protect, rescue, train and care for animals and preserve their habitat. She recently created a fragrance<\/a> and a necklace<\/a>, the sales of which supported her efforts.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked about the continuing impact of the show that made her a household name, Swit brought up a telegram from a fan. \u201cIt said, \u2018Dear\u00a0M*A*S*H\u00a0folk: You made me laugh. You made me cry. You made me feel. Thank you.\u2019 I\u2019ve never forgotten that,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s one hell of a legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuane Byrge contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loretta Swit, the actress and animal activist forever known for her pioneering turn as the disciplined Maj. Margaret…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[62601,4080,77,46064,1490,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-145369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-blake-edwards","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-mash","12":"tag-obituaries","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114599445503838977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}