This tall, lithe blonde actress with prominent bee-stung lips was an obscure bit player until she careened to fame as Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan on the TV series "M*A*S*H" (CBS, 1972-83), for which she won two Emmy Awards as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Success allowed Loretta Swit to become one of the queens of TV-movies for about a decade, a period in which she can lay claim to having originated the role of New York cop Chris Cagney in the 1981 CBS TV-movie.
Swit has been intensely guarded about her life before "M*A*S*H" and her private life in general. She was born and raised in Passaic, NJ, in an area where virtually ever resident was of Polish descent and most of the children attended parochial schools. Swit eventually went on to study with Gene Frankel at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Among her first professional work was the role of Agnes Gooch in a road company of the stage musical "Mame". She began to make guest appearances on TV series in 1969 with an episode of "Hawaii Five-O" and by 1971 had settled in Hollywood.
Cast through the audition process in "M*A*S*H", Swit took the role of Margaret Houlihan (originated by Sally Kellerman in the film) and turned it from shrill, sex-starved fascist into a caring, even warm, individual. She is the only woman to have had a full-time role on the show during its entire run. During her hiatus, Swit found work in TV-movies and variety specials. She had a small role in the comedy "Shirts/Skins" (ABC, 1973) and within two years was starring in such ventures as "The Last Day" (NBC, 1975). She often made two or even three telefilms a year as well as squeezing in guest appearances on other shows like "Love, American Style" and "The Love Boat". Among her more unusual roles was her turn as a nun harboring Jewish children during World War II in "Miracle at Moreaux" (PBS, 1985).
In 1972, Swit had made her feature film debut playing a typical wife and mother in "Stand Up and Be Counted". Two years later, she received some attention playing a gangster's wife in "Freebie and the Bean" (1974). Her best screen role (to date) was in Blake Edwards' "S.O.B." (1981), as a loud, obnoxious gossip columnist who spends most of the film in a full body cast. In addition to her film and TV work, Swit returned to Broadway, co-starring in "Same Time, Next Year" in the 1970s and succeeding Cleo Laine as Princess Puffer in Rupert Holmes' Tony-winning musical "Drood/The Mystery of Edwin Drood" in the 80s. While she has been less active in front of the cameras in the 90s, Swit has remained a vocal animal activist and hosted "Those Incredible Animals" (The Discovery Channel, 1992-93).