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Loretta Swit, famous for her portrayal of Major Margaret Houlihan, the exacting head nurse at a surgical unit during the Korean War on the groundbreaking TV series M.A.S.H., has passed away at the age of 87. She earned two Emmy Awards for her performance.
Publicist Harlan Boll says Swit died Friday at her home in New York City, likely from natural causes.
Swit, along with Alan Alda, was a key figure on M.A.S.H. for its entire run. The series was inspired by Robert Altman’s 1970 movie, which, in turn, was adapted from a novel by Richard Hooker, the pen name of H. Richard Hornberger.
Swit was born in New Jersey
She was born in Passaic, New Jersey, to Polish immigrant parents. Swit attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and she spent years honing her craft in traveling theater productions.
In 1969, she arrived in Hollywood and was soon seen in series such as Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five-O, Mission Impossible and Bonanza.
Then in 1972, she got her big break when she was asked to audition for the role of “Hot Lips.”
She would regularly return to theater, starring on Broadway in 1975 in “Same Time, Next Year” and “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” in 1986.
She was in “Amorous Crossing,” a romantic comedy, at Alhambra Theatre & Dining in 2010 and in North Carolina Theatre’s production of “Mame” in 2003.
