M*A*S*H star Loretta Swit, who has won two Emmys, died aged 87 earlier today, May 30.
M*A*S*H icon Loretta Swit has passed away, it has been announced. The iconic actress died of natural causes at her home in New York City.
Her representative Harlan Boll said that the New York police reported that the actor died earlier today, May 30, of suspected natural causes. Loretta is best known for playing Major Margaret Houlihan on M*A*S*H, which ran for 11 seasons on CBS from 1972 to 1983.
She took over the role from the late Sally Kellerman, who starred as the character in the film M*A*S*H (1970), reported The Mirror. Loretta won two Emmy Awards for her performance as head nurse Margaret, who was also known as Hot Lips, on the long-running TV spin-off.
She won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Or Variety Or Music Series in 1980 and then again two years later. The actress also managed to give a more feminist and three-dimensional quality to Major Margaret as the show progressed, downplaying her sexualised ‘Hot Lips’ character.
The growing awareness of feminism in the seventies spurred Houlihan’s transformation from caricature to real person, but a lot of the change was due to Swit’s influence on the scriptwriters.
“Around the second or third year I decided to try to play her as a real person, in an intelligent fashion, even if it meant hurting the jokes,” Swit told Suzy Kalter, author of The Complete Book of M.A.S.H.
“To oversimplify it, I took each traumatic change that happened in her life and kept it. I didn’t go into the next episode as if it were a different character in a different play. She was a character in constant flux; she never stopped developing.”
Loretta’s decades-long career also included roles in shows like Hawaii Five-O, Mission: Impossible and the Love Boat in the 1970s.
She had continued to act in the years since M*A*S*H, with her latest credit said to be the film Play the Flute (2019).
She also originated the role of police detective Christine Cagney on-screen in the pilot movie for Cagney & Lacey in 1981. She didn’t appear in the subsequent TV series though, reportedly due to contractual obligations to M*A*S*H.
Meg Foster replaced her in the first season in 1982, starring alongside Tyne Daly, who remained in the role of Mary Beth Lacey. Sharon Gless is most associated with the role of Cagney though, after taking over from Meg in the second season and appearing until the final season in 1988.
Loretta, who’s also considered an animal activist alongside her acting work, is being remembered in tributes following the news of her death. Many fans have referenced her role on M*A*S*H in their posts about the acclaimed actor.
One fan wrote on X earlier: “Rest in peace [Loretta]. A truly phenomenal actress who will be deeply missed…” Sharing their reaction, another person said in a post: “May you Rest in Peace Loretta. You are off duty now.”
Someone else wrote: “This is absolutely devastating news… Loretta Swit was an amazing human being. Exceptional on-screen and off-screen. Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen Loretta.” Whilst one fan said: “R.I.P [Loretta], thank you for the memories.”
Another person commented: “No character evolves more across 11 seasons of M*A*S*H than Major Margaret Houlihan. Loretta Swit made it believable.”
