'Hot Lips' checks out at 87

Loretta Swit a.k.a. Hot Lips of TV’s ‘M*A*S*H,’ Dies at 87

She won two Emmy Awards for her sympathetic portrayal of an Army major on the hit TV show and had a long career in TV and theater.



Loretta Swit, the Emmy-winning actress who made the high-strung and relentlessly militaristic Maj. Margaret Houlihan human, dignified and, against all odds, sympathetic on the acclaimed television series “M*A*S*H,” died on Friday at her home in Manhattan. She was 87.

Her death was announced by her publicist, Harlan Boll.

In the Oscar-winning 1970 film “M*A*S*H,” directed by Robert Altman, Major Houlihan (whose blatantly sexist nickname was Hot Lips) was played by Sally Kellerman. When the movie became a CBS series, Ms. Swit stepped into the role and made it her own, adding heretofore unseen nuance. She was nominated 10 years in a row for the Emmy Award for best supporting actress in a comedy series, and she won twice, in 1980 and 1982.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/obituaries/loretta-swit-dead.html

She was also the original Detective Cagney in Cagney and Lacey but was ditched after only one episode!