She came into our living rooms as “Hot Lips” — but she left a legacy as Margaret.

Loretta Swit, the Emmy-winning actress who brought heart, fire, and unforgettable humanity to Major Margaret Houlihan on MASH*, has passed away at age 87.

Her publicist, Harlan Boll, confirmed she died Friday at her home in New York City, likely of natural causes.

Swit and Alan Alda were the longest-serving cast members on the legendary CBS sitcom MASH, which aired from 1972 to 1983 and was based on Robert Altman’s 1970 film — itself an adaptation of a novel by Richard Hooker, the pen name of Dr. H. Richard Hornberger.

Over 11 years and all but 11 episodes, Swit helped guide MASH through stories far deeper than its comedic surface, tackling themes like PTSD, racism, and sexism — and in the process, fighting for something bigger than just laughs.

“One of the things I liked, with Loretta’s prodding, was every time I had a chance to write for her character, we’d get away from the Hot Lips angle and find out more about who Margaret was. She became more of a real person,” Alan Alda told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018.

The show’s finale on February 28, 1983, still stands as a TV milestone — a two-and-a-half-hour goodbye watched by more than 100 million people, the most ever for a scripted series episode.

Born i New Jersey
Swit was born in Passaic, New Jersey, the daughter of Polish immigrants. She trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and spent years touring in stage productions before arriving in Hollywood in 1969. Bit parts in shows like Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five-O, Bonanza, and Mission: Impossible followed — and then came 1972, when she was asked to audition for the role that would define her.

But Swit wasn’t satisfied with how that role was originally written.

In the original MASH* film, the character of Houlihan was flat — a cold, rule-obsessed nurse whose most intimate moment was broadcast to the whole camp as a cruel joke. The men called her “Hot Lips,” a nickname Swit came to despise.

“I get that nicknames come from affection, but to me, it felt like an insult,” she told Fox News Digital. “She wasn’t just a body part; she was a major in the U.S. Army, and she deserved respect.”

Pushed the writers
Swit began actively working to evolve the character — and succeeded.

“I think my perseverance probably became very annoying,” she said. “But I felt it was important for the women out there who were supporting our country. I kept telling the writers, ‘She’s so much more than this.’”

The women’s movement of the 1970s helped pave the way for change on-screen, but much of Houlihan’s transformation came directly from Swit herself.

She pushed the writers to move away from the “one-joke” version of her character and instead build someone real — a layered, vulnerable, and strong military woman who grew from her experiences.

“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,” she told Suzy Kalter, author of The Complete Book of ‘MASH’*.

“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.”

Her love for acting never faded. Swit returned to theater regularly, starring on Broadway in Same Time, Next Year in 1975 and The Mystery of Edwin Drood in 1986. She later appeared in Mame with the North Carolina Theatre in 2003, and even in 2010, at age 72, she was still commanding the stage in the romantic comedy Amorous Crossing. Her final film role came in 2019, when she appeared in the faith-based drama Play the Flute.

Married once
Swit was once romantically linked to musician Bill Hudson. In 1983, she married actor Dennis Holahan, who later appeared on MASH as Per Johannsen — a Swedish diplomat who shared a brief on-screen romance with her character. The couple divorced in 1995.

A devoted animal rights advocate, Swit was also passionate voice for animal welfare. She became a vegetarian early in life and transitioned to a vegan lifestyle in 1981, long before it became mainstream.

Now, she is mourned by countless fans — as well as by the many cast and crew members who came to know and love her during the unforgettable years of MASH.

Alan Alda took to X (formerly Twitter) to remember his longtime co-star:

“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,” he wrote. “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.”

And for fans who grew up watching MASH*, Margaret Houlihan — not “Hot Lips” — is the name that will live on.