M*A*S*H actress Loretta Swit dies aged 87
Loretta Swit, the two-time Emmy Award winner for her role in the hit comedy series "MASH," died on Friday, according to her representative.
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Her manager, Harlan Paul, told the BBC that she died at her home in New York at the age of 87. She likely died of natural causes, although the coroner's report has yet to be released.
In "MASH," Swit played pioneering U.S. Army nurse Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan. The series, which told the story of an Army mobile surgical hospital during the Korean War, ran for 11 seasons from 1972 to 1983.
Swit was nominated for numerous awards and appeared in nearly every episode, including the finale, which attracted a record 106 million American viewers.
The series remains one of the most successful and critically acclaimed in American television history. The final episode of the season was the most-watched of all television series in history when it ended in 1983.
As "Hot Lips," Sweet played a tough but vulnerable army nurse, earning this nickname after her romantic relationship with Major Frank Burns, played by Larry Linville.
The series used comedy and gags to address sensitive issues such as racism, sexism, and the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder within the military, at a time when American troops were withdrawing from Vietnam and dealing with the aftermath of that conflict.
The series was based on the 1968 book "MASH: A Novel of Three Army Doctors," written by a former Army surgeon.
Sweet was born Loretta Sued in New Jersey and trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
Aside from "MASH," she has also appeared in numerous television shows, films, and even game shows throughout her career.
She has appeared on Broadway in plays including Same Time, Next Year, Mammy, and Shirley Valentine—a role for which she won the Sarah Siddons Award, Chicago's highest theater award.
Her television credits have included appearances on The Muppet Show, Mission: Impossible, and Murder, She Root.
In addition to her Emmy Awards, Sweet has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards.
"Acting isn't subtle for me; it's revealing. We give you the freedom to feel," she told Star magazine in 2010. "That's the most important thing in the world, because when you stop feeling, you're no longer alive."
Speaking to a writer about her character on MASH, she said, "Around the second or third year, I decided I was going to try to portray her as a real person, in a smart way, even if it meant offending the jokes... She was a character in constant flux; she never stopped evolving."
Sweet was also an artist and animal rights activist, and founded an anti-cruelty charity, according to a statement from her publicist, Mr. Paul.
Jamie Farr, who played Corporal Klinger on MASH, described Sweet as his "adopted sister."
"From the first time I met her, during what was supposed to be a one-day appearance on MASH, we embraced each other, and that friendship became a lifelong one," Farr said in a statement. "I can't express how much I'll miss her."