Loretta Jane Swit (November 4, 1937 – May 30, 2025) was an American actress known for Race with the Devil, S.O.B., and Whoops Apocalypse. She was perhaps best known for portraying Major Margaret Houlihan in the television series M*A*S*H (1972). Swit and Hawkeye Pierce actor Alan Alda were the only two performers who appeared in both the pilot and series finale.
She was married to actor/attorney Dennis Holahan from 1983–95.
Filmography
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Film Roles
- Stand Up And Be Counted as Hilary McBride
- Deadhead Miles as Lady with Glass Eye
- Policewoman as Police Clerk (Uncredited Role)
- Freebie and the Bean as Mildred Meyers
- Its A Bird Its A Plane Its Superman as Sydney (TV Movie)
- Race with the Devil as Alice
- S.O.B. as Polly Reed
- Beer as B.D. Tucker
- Whoops Apocalypse as President Barbara Adams
- Forest Warrior as Shirley
Television Roles
- Hawaii Five-O as Anna/Wanda Russell/Betty (4 episodes)
- Mission: Impossible as Midge Larson (1 episode)
- Mannix as Dorothy Harker/Jill Packard (2 episodes)
- Gunsmoke (1955) as Belle Clark/Donna (2 episodes)
- Cade's County as Ginny Lomax (1 episode)
- Bonanza as Ellen Sue Greely (1 episode)
- Young Dr Kildare as Alice (1 episode)
- M*A*S*H (1972) as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan
- Love, American Style as Doris/Mary Beth Scoggins (2 episodes)
- Ironside (1967) as Sally Pearson (1 episode)
- Match Game As Herself (1973-1979)
- Petrocelli as Ella Knox (1 episode)
- The Bobby Vinton Show as Herself (1 episode)
- Good Heavens as Maxine (1 episode)
- The Love Boat as Terry Larsen/Anoushka Mishancov/Kathy Ross (3 episodes)
- Supertrain as Alice Phillips (1 episode)
- Cagney & Lacey as Det. Christine Lacey (original pilot)
- Dolly as LuWanda Novack (1 episode)
- Batman: The Animated Series as Marcia Cates (1 episode)
- Murder, She Wrote as Kim Mitchell (1 episode)
- Burke's Law as Evelyn Turner (1 episode)
- Cow and Chicken as Judge (1 episode)
- Diagnosis: Murder as Maggie Dennings (1 episode)
- The Hollywood Squares as Herself (6 episodes)