Posted on 05/30/2025 12:50:21 PM PDT by DFG
Loretta Swit, the actress and animal activist forever known for her pioneering turn as the disciplined Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on the acclaimed CBS sitcom M*A*S*H, has died. She was 87.
According 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.
Swit won two Emmys for her portrayal of the Army nurse — she was nominated 10 times, every year the show was on the air except the first — and appeared on 240 of the series’ 251 episodes during its sensational 11-season run.
Adapting the character from Sally Kellerman‘s 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 M*A*S*H.
That 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.
As a tough, by-the-book major, Swit’s Houlihan was a rare strong woman on television. “She was [unique] at the time and in her time, which was the ’50s, when [the Korean War] was happening,” Swit said in a 2004 discussion for the TV Academy Foundation website The Interviews: An Oral History of Television.
“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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
That finale was an amazing show. Rest in peace, Margaret.
Aww! Sorry to hear that. RIP Ms. Swit.
This is sad to hear. Loved her in that role.
RIP Major Houlihan.
She was in Hawaii Five 0, Mannix, and Mission Impossible among so many other things.
MASH was great television when television was still good.
I saw her in about ‘98 in San Francisco.
Didn’t look very good as Hollywood surgery had made a mess of her face.
RIP
Memory eternal!
RIP Loretta. You were better than Alda.
Agree with this. Even though it had a liberal slant, I still enjoyed it because it really gave some reality in a sense to war and how much it sucks.
Needless to say, MASH was one of the greatest TV shows of all time.
“MASH was great television when television was still good.”
When America was still America,
Hard to believe, but I guess our TV and movie stars are forever young in our minds. Rest in peace, Loretta, and thanks for the tears and laughter over the years.
Radar’s teddybear was better than the preachy Alda
When Wayne Rogers left and they brought in Mike Farrell I thought it lost some edge.
Larry Linville left which kind of soften the jokes with no Frank to pick on.
Harry Morgan was a good replacement for the Colonel.
Gary Burghoff, Radar, was the only actor both in the movie and TV series.
That was one of the many extremely effective leftwing shows, easy to watch and heavy on the casting/writing imagery and messaging.
Then why did you say it?
Just joshin' with you, Dan. 😁
I liked the show when I was younger but it’s lost its appeals in reruns
This show should have closed it’s doors after Colonel Blake was killed
and Trapper John left. The latter years were just tired rehashing old story lines but with new targets.
Sally kellerman was a sexier pick for”Hot Lips”!
And notice how their liberal attacks on Burns and later Winchester are never considered “bullying”
This might still be made only because both are considered “fair targets”
The movie was far better than the show.
I agree, it doesn’t age well.
Glad I’m not the only one.
But another show during that same era is still entertaining, “All In Family”
Archie was meant to the buffoonish bigot but seems to always get the best lines, despite the producers leftist bias
But in MASH, Alsa had to be the center character with all the best lines
It got tiresome.
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