Loretta Swit, who won two Emmy Awards playing Major Margaret Houlihan on the pioneering hit TV series “M.A.S.H.,” has died. She was 87.

Publicist Harlan Boll says Swit died Friday at her home in New York City, likely from natural causes.

Swit and Alan Alda were the longest-serving cast members on “M.A.S.H.,” which was based on Robert Altman’s 1970 film, which was itself based on a novel by Richard Hooker, the pseudonym of H. Richard Hornberger.

The CBS show aired for 11 years from 1972 to 1983, revolving around life at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, which gave the show its name. The two-and-a-half-hour finale on Feb. 28, 1983, lured over 100 million viewers, the most-watched episode of any scripted series ever.

  • shittydwarf@sh.itjust.works
    10·
    4 days ago

    MASH is still great, I started from the beginning recently and have been enjoying it immensely, another recommendation here. Goodnight Major

  • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world
    5·
    4 days ago

    Damn, I’m genuinely bummed by this.

    MASH has had a huge impact on my life. My mom and I have watched it together my whole life, my stepfather loves watching it with me, and my dogs are named after characters from the show (Radar and Rosie)

    Margaret was such a dynamic character. I really enjoy watching her character development over the course of the series. She’s one of my favorites.