'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Two-time Emmy Award-winning actress Loretta Swit has passed away at 87. Her publicist, Harlan Boll, confirmed the news with the BBC, adding that Swit died in her home in New York City on Friday, May 30, 2025. While an exact cause of death would be determined in the coroner's report, she likely died of natural causes.
The actress is best remembered for playing Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on CBS's M*A*S*H. The war comedy centered around a team of doctors and support staff stationed in South Korea during the Korean War. The show explored themes like racism, s*xism, and PTSD within the military.
Trending
In addition to a successful television career, Swit was a well-known stage actor, starring in productions such as The Odd Couple, Same Time, Next Year, and the one-woman play, Shirley Valentine. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Loretta Swit boasts an estimated fortune of $4 million.
A glimpse at Netflix's darkest show RIGHT HERE
"I decided to try to play her as a real person"— Loretta Swit about playing Houlihan as a character with intelligence and depth, "even if it meant hurting the jokes"
Loretta Swit hails from Passaic, New Jersey. According to Celebrity Net Worth, her parents, Lester and Nellie Szwed, were of Polish descent, and she had an older brother, Robert.
Swit went to Pope Pius XII High School, where she was a cheerleader, co-captain of the girls’ basketball team, and active in school plays, according to The Herald-News and The Blade.
She graduated from Katharine Gibbs School in Montclair in 1957 and worked in several clerical roles, including as a stenographer, personal secretary to writer Elsa Maxwell, and secretary to the Ghanaian ambassador to the UN, as reported by The Herald-News in August 1961.
Per the publication, Loretta Swit also worked at the American Rocket Society while learning dance from Rockette (The Radio City Rockettes) Elizabeth Parent-Barber. Around that time, she took acting classes with Gene Frankel.
Per Celebrity Net Worth, Swit moved to Hollywood, California, in 1969, making her television debut on Hawaii Five-O. She also made guest appearances on shows like Mission: Impossible, Bonanza, and Mannix.
Loretta Swit's breakthrough role came playing Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on the war comedy series M*A*S*H. The show was a hit, spanning 11 seasons. Swit was one of the only four cast members to appear throughout its run.
Per the BBC, M*A*S*H remains one of the most successful and acclaimed series in the U.S., and its season finale was the most watched episode of any TV series in history when it ended in 1983. Swit's performance earned her several Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations, winning two Emmys in total.
Per the Guardian, talking about her character to Suzy Kalter, the author of The Complete Book of M*A*S*H, Swit explained,
"Around the second or third year I decided to try to play her as a real person, in an intelligent fashion, even if it meant hurting the jokes."
Highlighting Houlihan's development into a much fuller, deeper character, she continued,
"To oversimplify it, I took each traumatic change that happened in her life and kept it. I didn’t go into the next episode as if it were a different character in a different play. She was a character in constant flux; she never stopped developing."
It is worth noting that Loretta Swit took over the role of Major Houlihan from Sally Kellerman, who played Houlihan in the movie version of M*A*S*H (the show is adapted from the movie, which is based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel of the same name). Kellerman's version saw Houlihan as a one-dimensional character, a sex-crazed bimbo (hence the nickname).
Some of Loretta Swit's other acting credits include Pyramid, Good Heavens, The Muppet Show, Password Plus, Mirror, Mirror, and Murder, She Wrote. The actress also starred in films like Race with the Devil, Whoops Apocalypse, and Forest Warrior.
Swit discussed her passion for acting during her interview with the Star magazine in 2010. Quoting the conversation, the BBC wrote,
"Acting is not hiding to me, it's revealing. We give you license to feel. That's the most important thing in the world, because when you stop feeling, that's when you're dead."
Loretta Swit married attorney and actor Dennis Holahan in 1983, divorcing in 1995.
According to a January 2017 article by HuffPost, Swit has been a vocal advocate for animal welfare, supporting several animal rights organizations. In 2017, she published the book SwitHeart: The Watercolour Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit, earnings from which benefited various animal charities.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, she received the Woman of the Year Award from the Animal Protection Institute and was honored with a Betty White Award for animal advocacy. Swit also boasts a Hollywood Walk of Fame star (1989).
There is no official word on the funeral and memorial for Swit.
