Loretta Swit ‘I NEARLY QUIT M*A*S*H!'

The TV icon spills secrets from the hit ’70s show

It’s 39 years since M*A*S*H left our screens, but for the sitcom’s only female star, Loretta Swit, who played lofty head nurse Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, it feels like just yesterday she was on set.

The 84-year-old says working on the popular show was “heaven”.

“You had this wonderful thing that you were doing with these wonderful people. And you all felt the same way about the material,” Loretta tells. “You know, everybody was happy to be there. And our guests would come back just to be with us, because it was fun. It was such a happy set.”

But that didn’t stop Loretta taking a break from the comedy during season four when she became frustrated at her character becoming nothing more than the butt of Hawkeye’s (played by Alan Alda) jokes.

“I am a feminist, from the top of my head to the bottom of my toenail,” says the star, who later returned on the condition she could help build Margaret into a more complex – and beloved – character. “And I favour playing strong women.”

COSY CAST

Despite the snags with the script, Loretta – who went on to appear in The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote before turning her attention in recent years to theatre – says the bond between the hit show’s stars was there from the very first “hello”.