‘MAS*H’s Alan Alda & More Costars Pay Tribute to Loretta Swit

Dan Clarendon May 31, 2025, 10:12 am

MASH - Loretta Swit — CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Following Loretta Swit’s death at age 87 yesterday, May 30, her M*A*S*H costars are mourning her on social media, including Alan Alda, who played Capt. Benjamin “Hawkeye” Pierce on the comedy-drama series.

“Loretta was a supremely talented actor,” Alda wrote in an X post about the Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan portrayer. “She deserved all her 10 Emmy nominations and her two 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.”

The cast of M*A*S*H - Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit, Jamie Farr, Gary Burghoff, William Christopher, Alan Alda, David Ogden Stiers, Harry Morgan

20th Century Fox/Everett Collection

Jamie Farr, who played Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger on the show, also paid tribute to Swit. “I dearly loved Loretta!” Farr said, per Entertainment Weekly. “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.”

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And Mike Farrell, who played Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on M*A*S*H, honored his late costar with a black-and-white photo of Swit and a caption reading, “Loretta… 1937-2025.”

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Alda, Farr, Farrell, and costar Gary Burghoff (Cpl. Walter “Radar” O’Reilly) are the last surviving M*A*S*H series regulars, and they maintained a close relationship to Swit, as she told Fox News in 2017.

“We might as well be joined at the hip!” she explained at the time. “We see each other quite frequently… Every time we lose a comrade, it’s a body blow. We feel it harshly, badly. People always ask me, ‘Do you ever see them?’ When do I not see them?! These aren’t casual acquaintances from years ago. This is my family… So much of my life can be credited to my family.”