Loretta Swit ‘I NEARLY QUIT M*A*S*H!’
The TV icon spills secrets from the hit ’70s show
It’s 39 years since M*A*S*H left our screens, but for the sitcom’s only female star, Loretta Swit, who played lofty head nurse Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, it feels like just yesterday she was on set.
The 84-year-old says working on the popular show was “heaven”.
“You had this wonderful thing that you were doing with these wonderful people. And you all felt the same way about the material,” Loretta tells. “You know, everybody was happy to be there. And our guests would come back just to be with us, because it was fun. It was such a happy set.”
But that didn’t stop Loretta taking a break from the comedy during season four when she became frustrated at her character becoming nothing more than the butt of Hawkeye’s (played by Alan Alda) jokes.
“I am a feminist, from the top of my head to the bottom of my toenail,” says the star, who later returned on the condition she could help build Margaret into a more complex – and beloved – character. “And I favour playing strong women.”
COSY CAST
Despite the snags with the script, Loretta – who went on to appear in The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote before turning her attention in recent years to theatre – says the bond between the hit show’s stars was there from the very first “hello”.
“Wayne [Rogers] and I would always say, ‘We got intimate quickly,’”
says Loretta. “We shot a sort of summer show in the winter. At five in the morning, you’re up in the mountains in California, and it’s very, very cold. And Wayne would be wearing one of those Hawaiian shirts the guys wore. He’d be turning blue. So we’d put a blanket around us and all huddle together on breaks.” Loretta even ended up marrying one of her co-stars – Dennis Holahan – when he was picked to play her love interest, Swedish diplomat Per Johannsen. The couple married in 1983 and were together for 12 years before divorcing in 1995.
The cast also bonded over the sudden rise to fame the show afforded all of them. “M*A*S*H became a phenomenon, and that certainly affected tremendous change in all of our lives,” says Loretta, who scored two Emmys for her work.
ANIMAL ACTIVIST
Given all the good memories, it’s no great surprise that Loretta says she’s still in touch
‘I have loved every minute of my career. I love what I do’
with all the surviving cast, in including series’ star Alan, 86. “We’re family,” she says. “Absolutely.”
As for the sitcom’s enduring popularity, Loretta believes there’s a simple reason it secured a place in the hearts of viewers.
“M*A*S*H didn’t insult your intelligence. It was not profane,” she says. “The messages were clean, good and profound.”
Loretta is now a passionate animal activist and runs her own not-for-profit charity, Switheart Animal Alliance.
“I want to make the lives of animals better,” says Loretta, who’s just released Switheart: The Watercolour Artistry & Animal Activism Of Loretta Swit.
The book chronicles her paintings, drawings and anecdotes of the animals she’s encountered.
“I have loved every minute of my career. I love what I do. I also love reaching out and helping people,” says Loretta.
“Passion will take you a long way.”