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Loretta Swit, Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on ‘M*A*S*H,’ Dies at 87

The two-time Emmy winner almost starred on 'Cagney & Lacey' and helped lead the way for women playing strong, professional characters on television.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv ... 236233958/

Alan Alda on X:

Loretta was a supremely talented actor. She deserved all her 10 EMMY nominations and her 2 wins. But more than acting her part, she created it. She worked hard In showing the writing staff how they could turn the character from a one joke sexist stereotype into a real person -- with real feelings and ambitions. We celebrated the day the script came out listing her character not as Hot Lips, but as Margaret. Loretta made the most of her time here.

I loved the way the show allowed her character to develop. M*A*S*H re-runs come on here from 7 to 9, and I mostly don't even leave the early shows on anymore because of the way she's treated.

SportsFan68 wrote: ↑

Fri May 30, 2025 9:13 pm

I loved the way the show allowed her character to develop. M*A*S*H re-runs come on here from 7 to 9, and I mostly don't even leave the early shows on anymore because of the way she's treated.

Did you see the film? Robert Altman was rather mysogenic.

Bob Juch wrote: ↑

Fri May 30, 2025 11:29 pm

SportsFan68 wrote: ↑

Fri May 30, 2025 9:13 pm

I loved the way the show allowed her character to develop. M*A*S*H re-runs come on here from 7 to 9, and I mostly don't even leave the early shows on anymore because of the way she's treated.

Did you see the film? Robert Altman was rather mysogenic.

Sally Kellerman got an Oscar nomination for playing Hot Lips in the film. The most famous scene in the movie involves her taking a shower in the communal shower tent. (They alternated between men's and women's shower times.) The other nurses intentionally got distracted on the way to the shower tent allowing Hot Lips to enter by herself. Then, everyone pulled up a chair outside the tent, and someone cut the rope, exposing the side of the tent and a nude Hot Lips.

The only other memorable female character in the movie was Lt. Dish (who was written out after a few episodes of the TV series). Enough said.

Frank Burns (played by Robert Duvall) was portrayed as a Bible-thumping hypocrite for carrying on with Hot Lips. They mellowed his character a bit on the TV series. Casual sexism and racism were more common, even in the 1960s (MASH came out in 1970), than today.

Given the turns of the thread-Is it OK to admit that I had a teenage crush on Swit? Never dreamed that she was a few years older than my parents though.