Alan Alda Pays Tribute To 11-Year ‘M*A*S*H’ Co-Star Loretta Swit: “Supremely Talented Actor”

Alan Alda, who starred on CBS’ long-running comedy series M*A*S*H alongside Loretta Swit, spoke out Friday after the news of Swit’s death at age 87.

Swit, who played Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H from 1972-1983, died at her home in New York City at age 87.

Alda played Capt. Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce also for the full run of the 14-time Emmy-winning show, which was based on Robert Altman’s 1970 feature film that starred Donald Sutherland as Hawkeye and Sally Kellerman as Hot Lips, the head nurse at the U.S. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital near the front lines of the Korean War.

“Loretta was a supremely talented actor,” he posted on X. “She deserved all her 10 Emmy nominations and her 2 wins. But more than acting her part, she created it. She worked hard In showing the writing staff how they could turn the character from a one joke sexist stereotype into a real person — with real feelings and ambitions. We celebrated the day the script came out listing her character not as Hot Lips, but as Margaret. Loretta made the most of her time here.”

Swit and Alda appeared in all 251 episodes of M*A*S*H including the 2½-hour series finale that aired in February 1983. It remains the most-watched episode of series TV in history, with more than 105 million viewers and mind-boggling 60.2 rating/77 share.

Another M*A*S*H regular, Jamie Farr (who played the cross-dressing Corporal Klinger), said in a statement, “I dearly loved Loretta! She was my adopted sister. As close as family can get. From the first time I met her, on what was supposed to be a one day appearance on M.A.S.H., we embraced each other and that became a lifetime friendship. I can’t begin to express how much she will be missed.”