Loretta Swit^†

She came to Hollywood in 1970 with stage credits and guest spots on Gunsmoke and Hawaii Five-O, but M*A*S*H was the thing. She got the role of Margaret Houlihan in 1972, inheriting it from Sally Kellerman's film version. Where the movie played Hot Lips as a punchline, Swit pushed the writers directly: give her a real arc, a marriage, a crisis, a life. By the later seasons, scripts listed the character as 'Margaret,' not 'Hot Lips,' a shift Alan Alda later said the whole cast celebrated. Ten Emmy nominations across eleven seasons confirmed the industry noticed.

The one that got away was Cagney & Lacey. Swit played Christine Cagney in the 1981 TV movie that launched the series, but her M*A*S*H contract blocked her from continuing, leaving the role to Sharon Gless. After M*A*S*H ended, she did 1,200 performances of Shirley Valentine and won the Sarah Siddons Award for it. She spent the rest of her career running SwitHeart Animal Alliance and fighting puppy mills and fur in fashion, loud enough that PETA paid tribute at her death.

Before acting, she spent time as a secretary for the Ghanaian ambassador at the United Nations. She had been a vegetarian for years before going vegan in 1981, and eventually published a watercolor art book in 2016 with 65 paintings and drawings, all proceeds to animal welfare. She also ran her own jewelry line and kept a vintage Ms. Pac-Man cabinet in her apartment, reportedly recommending it for reflexes and strategy. Her parents were Polish immigrants; she spoke the language fluently.

Her maid found her unresponsive at her Manhattan apartment on the morning after her publicist had spoken with her. Alan Alda wrote on X that she had worked directly with the M*A*S*H writing staff to turn Margaret into 'a real person,' crediting her with reshaping the character's entire arc. Her final Instagram post, four days earlier, shared a M*A*S*H still honoring Memorial Day. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.