Loretta Swit, the Emmy-winning actress who portrayed Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on the groundbreaking television series M*A*S*H, died Friday at her home in New York City. She was 87.
According to her publicist Harlan Boll, Swit died of natural causes on May 30, 2025. The actress appeared in all but 11 episodes of M*A*S*H during its 11-season run from 1972 to 1983, earning two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of the strict Army nurse.
Swit received 10 Emmy nominations throughout her tenure on the show, one for every season she appeared in except the first. She won the Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series in 1980 and 1982. Her character evolved significantly over the show’s run, transforming from what initially was a one-dimensional antagonist into a complex, three-dimensional character.
Alan Alda, Swit’s longtime co-star who played Hawkeye Pierce, paid tribute to her on social media Friday. Alda noted that “she deserved all her 10 Emmy nominations and her 2 wins” and credited Swit with helping transform her character from a sexist stereotype into a real person with genuine feelings and ambitions.
Mike Farrell, who joined the series in season four, shared a photo of Swit on Instagram marking her years as 1937-2025. Jamie Farr, who portrayed Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger, described Swit as talented, beautiful and an exceptional friend, stating there would be a void in his life and that he would always have a special place for her in his heart.
Swit was instrumental in developing her character beyond the initial conception. She advocated for the writing staff to evolve Major Houlihan from a broadly drawn villain into a more nuanced character. The transformation included changing how scripts referred to her character, moving from “Hot Lips” to her proper name Margaret. Key episodes in this evolution included “The Nurses,” where Houlihan expressed her loneliness to her subordinates, and “Comrades in Arms,” where she and Hawkeye shared an intimate moment that ended their long-standing rivalry.
Born Loretta Jane Szwed in Passaic, New Jersey, on November 4, 1937, to Polish immigrant parents Nellie and Lester Szwed, she later anglicized her surname to Swit. Her father worked as an upholsterer, and her parents were initially unsupportive of her entertainment career aspirations. Despite this, Swit began performing on stage at age seven.
After attending Pope Pius XII High School in Passaic and Gibbs College in Montclair, New Jersey, Swit moved to New York, where she trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating in 1959. She studied acting with Gene Frankel and initially worked various secretarial jobs before breaking into theater.
Her theatrical breakthrough came in 1961 when she joined the cast of “The Balcony” by Jean Genet at the Circle in the Square theater. She spent the 1960s exclusively on stage before moving to Hollywood in 1969, where she began landing television roles on shows including “Hawaii Five-O,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Mannix,” “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza,” and “Ironside.”
During her M*A*S*H years, Swit continued working in films, appearing in “Freebie and the Bean” (1974), “Race With the Devil” (1975), “S.O.B.” (1981), and “BoardHeads” (1998). She also had notable television movie roles, including the Emmy-nominated 1983 production “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”
Swit notably missed the opportunity to star in “Cagney & Lacey” when M*A*S*H producers refused to release her from her contract. She had played Detective Christine Cagney in the 1981 pilot alongside Tyne Daly, but was unavailable when the series began production.
After M*A*S*H ended, Swit returned to the theater, starring on Broadway in “Same Time, Next Year” and “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” She also performed in touring productions of “Shirley Valentine” and “The Vagina Monologues.” Her film work included “Whoops Apocalypse” (1986), where she played the first female American president.
Beyond acting, Swit was a passionate animal rights activist who worked with numerous charities and established her own organization, SwitHeart Animal Alliance. The charity focused on reuniting dogs from Afghanistan with their human companions and matching veterans with homeless animals. In 2017, she published “SwitHeart: The Watercolour Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit.”
Swit was married to actor and lawyer Dennis Holahan from 1983 to 1995. She made her final television appearance in a 1998 episode of “Diagnosis Murder.”
