Loretta Swit, who played Major Margaret Houlihan in the television series “M * a * s * h”, died, a representative for her confirmed to CBS News. She was 87 years old.
Swit died at his home in New York, his representative, B. Harlan Boll, said in a statement to CBS News on Friday. She would have died of natural causes.
Swit played on stage and on the screen, but it was perhaps best known for its longtime role like a leaf for Alan AldaThe captain of Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce on “M * a * s * H”, which was broadcast for 11 seasons on CBS, from 1972 to 1983.
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The show was adapted from Robert Altman’s 1970 Oscar -winning film, a benchmark celebrated for his freewheel humor, his satirical approach to war films, excess blood in the operating room and the nudity of his nurses. The television series, produced by Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds, was attenuated for television but maintained the anti-establishment philosophy of the film.
The surgical hospital of the 40777th mobile army which was the framework of the program allowed the doctors embarrassed by exhausting work to get rid of steam by playing pranks, telling jokes while performing a “meatball surgery” and fighting with patients and the ranks of the army on questions such as racism, sexism, infidelity and effects service.
The Grand Ensemble included Wayne Rogers As a “trapper” captain John McIntyre, McLean Stevenson as Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Blake, Larry Linville Like Major Frank Burns and William Christopher as Father Francis Mulcahy. An actor of Altman’s film, Gary Burghoff, resumed his role as “radar” O’Reilly, the super economy corporal which was the glue that held the hospital together. A new character, CPL. Max Klinger, played by Jamie Farr, continuously tried to obtain a discharge from section 8 of the army for an exchange.
Swit won two EMMYS for his performances on “M * a * s * h” and was nominated eight other times for his work on the series. She was also nominated for four Golden Globes.
While the show developed and incorporated more dramatic intrigue with the comics, Swit wanted to portray Houlihan as more than the nickname “hot lips” than his character was given while having an affair with the burns of Linville.
“Towards the second or third year, I decided to try to play it as a real person, in a smart manner, even if it meant injured the jokes,” Swit told the author of “The full book of ‘Mash”, “Suzy Kalter.
“To simplify it outside, I took each traumatic change that occurred in his life and I kept him. I did not enter the next episode as if it were a different character in a different room. She was a constant flow character; she never stopped developing.”
contributed to this report.
