Loretta Swit won the hearts of the American public during her tenure on one of the greatest TV shows of all time, M*A*S*H. She portrayed Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on the show from September 17, 1972, to February 28, 1983, for a total of 11 seasons and appeared in 239 episodes. She and Alan Alda were the only two actors to appear in both the pilot and the finale. Swit had a great career in TV, film and theater and became a published author.
Swit initially began her adult career as a secretary for professionals such as gossip columnist Elsa Maxwell, the ambassador from Ghana and then at the American Rocket Society. In a March 1979 People cover story Swit talked about what inspired her acting career. “I always wanted to be an actress. Luckily, my mother loved movies and we would go to double features and sit through both films twice.” She eventually found her way into acting classes and studied with Gene Frankel, theater director and collaborator with top Broadway stars such as James Earl Jones, Louis Goessett Jr. and Cicely Tyson. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and appeared off-Broadway in An Enemy of the People in the 1960s. Swit toured with a national theater company to develop her craft and made it into the Los Angeles production of The Odd Couple with Don Rickles and Ernest Borgnine. By the late 60s, she had made her debut on TV and was gaining momentum.
Swit’s TV career was moving in the right direction, and by the early 70s, she had appeared in top shows such as Hawaii Five-O, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible and Mannix. She had the breakthrough of a lifetime being cast in the pilot of M*A*S*H as Major Houlihan. The show focused on a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean War and won numerous awards. The show was based on a popular novel and box office hit film of the same name. Swit earned two Emmys from her work on the series. In an interview with Jed Ryan for HuffPo, Swit shared, “M*A*S*H is a classic. The writing, the execution, the production values… It was just a blessing. The whole experience was just a noble blessing, to work on those literary scripts. To work with family, friends, and colleagues who you loved — every week! It doesn’t surprise me that it continues to seduce generation after generation after generation.” Ironically, the show lasted 11 years, while the Korean War was only three.
It is one of the highest-rated series in TV history, and its final episode was the most-watched TV broadcast in the U.S. from 1983 to 2010. The show was nominated for over 100 Emmys, winning 14 times in such categories as Outstanding Comedy Series, Actor of the Year and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety or Music Series. Swit stated, “Sometimes I would get letters from nurses saying how grateful they were that a nurse was finally being portrayed as a person, a caring human being. As far as the audience was concerned, I think it identifies with at least one or two or maybe all of us. We have become people to them and never caricatures. We’re very real to them.” The series was a career blessing, even though it precluded her from working further on another hit series.
She had another great career opportunity in Cagney & Lacey, a hit series about two police women in the 1980s. She secured the role for the pilot, but due to contractual obligations, she was unable to continue once it was picked up for a series. She continued to book roles in different series and films such as The Muppet Show, The Best Christmas Pagaent Ever, The Love Boat, Batman: The Animated Series, Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder and Hollywood Squares. Her theater career continued well into the 2010s with her appearing on stage across the country in such shows as Shirley Valentine, Mame, Amorous Crossings, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She hosted Korean War – The Untold Story and Those Incredible Animals. She had a well-rounded career that helped to utilize her on-screen persona as Major Houlihan and her own personality.
She married an actor, Dennis Holahan, who played her love interest on an episode of M*A*S*H in 1983. They separated in 1995. She advocated for animal rights and was a vegetarian and then a vegan in 1981. She wrote a couple of books: A Needoint Scrapbook, published in 1986, and Switheart: The Watercolour Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit, released in 2017. She passed at the age of 87 on May 30, 2025. We Are The Mighty passes our heartfelt condolences to her friends and family.