Loretta Swit, Loretta Jane Swit, whose true name was Loretta Jane Szwed, became renowned for playing Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on M*A*S*H, for which she won two Emmys. Swit died May 30, 2025.
Loretta Swit Obituary : His Biography and Legal Legacy
Loretta Swit Early years
Loretta Swit was born in Passaic, New Jersey, on November 4, 1937, to Polish immigrants Lester and Nellie Szwed (née Kassack). Her dad upholstered and sold. She was six years and one day older than Swit’s brother Robert. Swit joined the Holy Rosary Scouts, a Passaic Girl Scout chapter, as a child.
She graduated in 1955 from Pope Pius XII High School in Passaic, New Jersey, as a cheerleader, actor, and women’s basketball co-captain. In June 1957, she graduated from Katharine Gibbs School in Montclair, New Jersey, and worked as a stenographer in Bloomfield, New Jersey; personal secretary to Elsa Maxwell; secretary to the Ghanaian ambassador to the UN; and dancer under Elizabeth Parent-Barber, a classmate, Rockette, and New York School of Ballet student, at the American Rocket Society in New York City. Her acting career began around this time.
She studied acting with Manhattan theatrical master Gene Frankel. Her career included numerous trips to his workshop to coach young performers. Swit also practiced singing at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Performance Art at Actors Playhouse An Enemy of the People was Swit’s debut off-Broadway show. Circle in the Square produced José Quintero’s Jean Genet drama The Balcony in 1961, with Swit as the protagonist.
Loretta Swit performed Any Wednesday with Gardner McKay around the nation in 1967. She repeated her Pigeon sister role in The Odd Couple in Los Angeles, with Don Rickles and Ernest Borgnine.
Same Time, Next Year starred Swit and Ted Bessell on Broadway in 1975. She appeared in the 1980s Broadway play The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Thereafter, she played Agnes Gooch in Mame: Live in Sin City alongside Susan Hayward and Celeste Holm.
Multiple revivals of the one-woman play Shirley Valentine took place in the 1990s and 2010s.
She starred in North Carolina Theatre’s October–November 2003 production of Mame in Raleigh.
Swit led the world premiere of Mark Miller’s play Amorous Crossings at Jacksonville’s Alhambra Dinner Theatre in August and September 2010. Tod Booth directed.
The 2016 performance of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks at the Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, featured Swit, and there was also a performance in Buffalo, NY, in 2017.
Loretta Swit Television
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Find references: “Loretta Swit”—news, newspapers, books, academics, and JSTOR (May 2025)
Swit debuted in Hollywood in 1969 with cameos on Hawaii Five-O, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, and Mannix. This was her first TV role.
The letter M:
The 1974 M*A*S*H cast included Larry Linville, Alan Alda, Gary Burghoff, Swit, and Wayne Rogers.
M*A*S*H (1977) Cast: William Christopher, Gary Burghoff, David Ogden Stiers, and Jamie Farr, back row, left to right. Swit, Alan Alda, Harry Morgan, and Mike Farrell lead.
M*A*S*H, a 1972–1974 comedy, starred Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, a skilled head nurse at a US Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea.
Sally Kellerman, who portrayed Houlihan in the film, gave Swit the iconic role, which made her famous. In the initial seasons, her character was nationalistic and socially awkward. The camp physicians and nurses disliked her, save for her married boyfriend, Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville). She got friendlier with time. She divorced her lieutenant colonel husband fast. Her view of the Koreans in the camp changed as she warmed up to her fellow officers.
This series’ movement from childish dark humor to serious comedy-drama was consistent. Only Swit, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, and Alan Alda survived the eleven seasons from 1972 to 1983.
She was in 245 of the 256 episodes; only Swit and Alda were in the premiere and finale. Swit won two Emmys for M*A*S*H.
Her favorite episodes were “Hot Lips and Empty Arms,” “Margaret’s Engagement,” and “The Nurses.”
She was also close to Harry Morgan, who played Colonel Sherman T. Potter. They lived close to one another after the series until his death on December 7, 2011. His wife, three children, and seven grandkids lived near Alda.
Loretta Swit Personal life and death
Swat’s 2019 book
Swit dated musician Bill Hudson. From 1983 until 1995, she was married to actor Dennis Holahan. Holahan played Swedish diplomat Per Johannsen, who briefly dated Swit on M*A*S*H.
Strit championed animal rights. She was a longtime vegetarian until becoming vegan in 1981.
Swit wrote a needlepoint scrapbook.
Swit died at 87 in her New York City residence on May 30, 2025.
Honoring Loretta Swit
In moments like these, we feel the loss deeply. Loretta Swit had a profound impact on many lives.
You are welcome to comment below if you have any memories or ideas to share. Let’s come together to remember and celebrate her life.
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