Loretta Swit, ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan on ‘M*A*S*H’, Dead at 87

Loretta Swit, the Emmy Award-winning actress who played Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on the beloved series M*A*S*H, died Friday. She was 87.

The actress died at 12:01 p.m. at her home in New York City, her rep, Harlan Boll, told Variety, noting that Swit’s death is suspected to be due to natural causes.

Swit is best known for her role as Major Houlihan on M*A*S*H and was nominated for an Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Emmy every year between 1974 and 1983. She walked away with the win in both 1980 and 1982.

Born Loretta Jane Szwed in Passaic, New Jersey, Swit first took to the stage as a child before going on to train as a singer at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and as an actor with Gene Frankel.

In 1969, Swit made her TV debut on Hawaii Five-O, and she went on to have several small roles on Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Ironside and Love, American Style over the next couple of years. In 1972, Swit appeared in her first film, Stand Up and Be Counted, which starred Jacqueline Bisset.

That same year also marked the premiere of M*A*S*H, which would go on to run for 11 seasons through 1983 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest TV shows of all time.

Even throughout the run of M*A*S*H, Swit worked on other film and TV projects, including 1974’s Freebie and the Bean alongside Alan Arkin and James Caan and 1975’s Race With the Devil. She also made a name for herself in the theater, making her Broadway debut in 1975’s Same Time, Next Year opposite Ted Bessell as a replacement before going on to appear in The Mystery of Edwin Drood in the ’80s. Swit appeared in numerous other productions across the country and toured with The Vagina Monologues.

Following her time on M*A*S*H, Swit went on to star in the Emmy-nominated television movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in 1983 before going on to appear in 1985’s The Execution before making guest appearances on popular shows like The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote before making her final TV appearance in Diagnosis Murder in 1998. That same year, she made her last credited acting appearance in the comedy Beach Movie.

Swit, who was married to actor Dennis Holahan from 1983 to 1995, was an animal advocate throughout her life. She founded the SwitHeart Animal Alliance and was honored with the Betty White Award from Actors & Others for Animals before her passing. In her honor, donations can be made to either organization.