M*A*S*H Star Loretta Swit Dies at 87

Loretta Swit, best known for playing Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on TV’s M*A*S*H, has died at the age of 87.

Swit made her Broadway debut in the play Any Wednesday in 1964. She subsequently starred opposite Ted Bessell in Same Time, Next Year, and later appeared as a replacement Princess Puffer in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She toured as Agnes Gooch in Mame, opposite both Susan Hayward and Celeste Holm in the title role, and later played Mame Dennis herself in New York and Pennsylvania.

In addition to these productions, she played over 1,200 performances in Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine, earning a Sarah Siddons Award, and toured in Song of Singapore, Love Letters, The Vagina Monologues, which she performed in New York, Chicago, and London, and Love, Loss, and What I Wore.

Regionally she has appeared in The Apple Tree, Doubt, Equus, Murder Among Friends, Barefoot in the Park, Driving Miss Daisy, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, and Me & Jezebel.

A 10-time Emmy nominee and two-time winner, she was best known for her work in the long-running M*A*S*H. A few other films include Games Mother Never Taught You with Sam Waterston, Hell Hath No Fury with Barbara Eden, The Execution with Rip Torn, Dreams of Gold with Cliff Robertson, and A Killer Among Friends with Patty Duke.

She sang and danced with Bob Hope, Kermit and Miss Piggy in The Muppet Show, and in the television broadcast of the musical It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman!, where she sang the classic, “You’ve Got Possibilities.”

Over her career, Swit earned People’s Choice, Genie, Silver Satellite, and Jean Golden Halo Awards, among many others. Her wildlife series, Those Incredible Animals ran for five years on the Discovery Channel and was aired in over 30 countries.

Passionate about animals, she set up the SwitHeart Animal Alliance to prevent cruelty and end animal suffering, while raising public awareness about issues that concern domestic, farm, exotic, wild, and native animals and their well being.

Among her numerous efforts to raise money for animal causes, Swit created her critically acclaimed art book, SwitHeart, which included 65 paintings and drawings by Swit herself, which has raised money for numerous animal causes.

Swit’s uniform and dog-tags as Major Margaret Houlihan from M*A*S*H are currently on display at the Hollywood Museum.