Loretta Swit: “Mash” legend dies at the age of 87

A piece of television history has come to an end: Loretta Swit, who delighted millions of spectators as major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in the legendary CBS series “Mash”, died on Friday in her home in New York City. According to her spokesman Harlan Boll, the 87-year-old died of probably natural causes at 12:01 p.m.

With her role as a strict but complex head sister in the cult comedy series, Swit shaped television like only a few others for eleven years. From 1972 to 1983 she embodied a figure that developed from an antagonist initially drawn into one of the most complex female characters in television history.

Her performance was not unnoticed: Swit was nominated ten times for the Emmy – every year in which “Mash” was on the air, except for the first. She actually won twice, 1980 and 1982. She was one of only two actors – alongside Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce – who performed both in the pilot sequence and in the series finale.

This final on February 28, 1983 pulled almost 106 million viewers in front of the screens – a record that still has existed today. A 35-second kiss between Swit and Alda in this episode is considered the most expensive kiss in television history due to the advertising revenues per minute.

Apart from the cameras, Swit passionately devoted himself to animal welfare. In 2016 she founded the “Switheart Animal Alliance”, a non -profit organization to protect animals. She sold her original works of art to collect donations. In 1999 she even said before the congress and fought so -called “Crush Videos” productions in which small animals are tortured.

Loretta Jane Szwed was born on November 4, 1937 in Passaic, New Jersey, as the daughter of Polish immigrants. Her parents were skeptical about her show business career, but she was on stage for the first time at the age of seven. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and at Gene Frankel in Manhattan. After moving to Los Angeles in 1970, she gained initial experiences in series such as “Hawaii Five-O”, “Mission: Impossible” and “Gunsmoke” before she received the role of her life.

From 1983 to 1995, Swit was married to actor Dennis Holahan, whom she had met on the set of “Mash”. In her last years of life, she largely retired from the public – her last film appearance dated 2019.