Actress Loretta Swit is best known for her portrayal of Maj. Margaret Houlihan on the beloved, award-winning television show, “M*A*S*H,” which ran for 11 seasons, from 1972-83. She won two Emmy awards for the role.
The 83-year-old actress recently spoke to the Tribune-Review via telephone to promote her upcoming appearance at the Steel City Con, scheduled for June 11-13 in the Monroeville Convention Center. Swit, as well as fellow “M*A*S*H” cast members Jamie Farr (Max Klinger) and Jeff Maxwell (Igor Straminsky) are scheduled to be at the show.
Question: Do you ever get tired of answering questions about “M*A*S*H”?
Answer: “I loved the show,” she said. “I loved and admire the show, the production, my colleagues, so it’s a pleasure to answer any of your questions.”
Q: It’s been more than a year since the original Steel City Con show that was originally scheduled for April 2020). How have you been holding up during the covid lockdown?
A: “I’ve been very busy,” Swit said. “I’ve done over 350 Cameos , which I love. It’s sort of like an autograph show, only on film, you know, only on video. It’s a similar outreach and it’s very rewarding. It’s sheer joy.”
Swit said that she has used the lockdown time to focus on working on upcoming scripts, paintings and commissions.
Q: Many people have written about how “M*A*S*H” helped prepare for the coronavirus lockdown: washing your hands, social distancing, shortages, wearing masks, dealing with isolation, etc.
A: “It’s hardship – it’s dealing with hardship,” she said. “You know the sum total of the person is not what they’re going through, it’s how they’re handling it. To sail through life does not develop character. There’s this wonderful old expression – I think it’s Polish – ‘When no wind blows, even the weather vane has character.’ And, so, I think it brought out our best character – also the worst in some cases – but I’m talking about, again, making it a very positive experience. It can make you a better, stronger person.”
Q: People often confuse the relationships onscreen with offscreen. Whom were you closest to on the set?
A: “I was close to everybody, that’s the problem,” she said. “They’re my family. We were, we are – we were and are, family. After getting roots like that, you have to work at it and you don’t take it for granted, we never did take what we had for granted. The other wonderful thing is that we appreciated every day, so we didn’t have to look back when it was over and say, ‘Geez, I wish I had appreciated, realized what a great time I had.’ Every day, we knew what a great thing we were a part of and a wonderful experience. It’s a part of our lives, in a way that it is a part of everybody’s life. I mean, it’s a phenomenon the way people relate to those – and I hate to say ‘characters’ – but we were playing characters. But, they were people to the audience who regards them as people and family, this global ‘M*A*S*H’ family.”
Q: Had Larry Linville (Maj. Frank Burns) stayed on the show, how do you think Margaret’s character arc would have played out?
A: “By the time Larry left, Margaret was unattached,” she said. “She had married and divorced by the time Larry left. So, Margaret was being played out long before Frank left.”
Q: Did you have input on her character?
A: “Of course, of course” she said. “But, if I didn’t, she would have stayed where she was. I would say that from year two, I was begging them to get me out of that relationship. Because they were writing him – he was so superb – I mean, he was a sure thing, you laughed at Larry. I mean, Frank was … you’re not going to tamper with that, but they were writing her – at my request – more intelligently and she was a very intelligent woman, with rank, an excellent head nurse and she is kind of stuck in this relationship – he’s married and it’s not going to go anywhere – and she doesn’t have any respect for his skills. She was the kind of nurse who worshiped doctors, surgeons and skill. And, so, little by little all of those facts chipped away at her whatever she had for him and it couldn’t last.”
Q: How do you think they would have changed the Margaret character, if “M*A*S*H” were currently running on TV?
A: “My take on Margaret in the finale, she said she’s going to be in a hospital stateside, I would have not done that. I would have contributed something else, but that is what everybody decided to write for her and we had no input on that. I said to them, ‘I don’t see that at all. She’s going on to the next war. Margaret was a 30-year-man.’ Margaret was the female version of Harry Morgan (Col. Potter) … so she was probably on her way to Vietnam. She was going to the next war. And, who knows romantically what happened to her, but her work was cut out for her, so that is what she would keep on doing. And then we would see how she coped with the life that would happen around her and how she would handle it.”
Q: Did you learn any real medical, nursing skills? You certainly had to memorize a lot of terms, like “Metzenbaum scissors” in every episode.
A: “Actually, you just said ‘Metz’ — you have no time,” she said. “Yea, you had to. You had to not only know the lingo, but what it looked like and what you were asking for and how to slap a scalpel into a hand without cutting off your fingers. [Laughs]. Yea, I think everybody learned a lot about the procedures.”
Q: Most of the cast directed episodes. Were you ever offered one? Even Farr directed one.
A: “No, I wasn’t,” she said. But added, “It would have been delightful.”
Q: While certainly there was a lot of interaction with “Hawkeye,” (Alan Alda), there also seems to have been a special relationship between Margaret and Klinger (Farr). You seemed to be a foil for each other.
A: “Jamie was everybody’s foil … there were some characters that were perfect foils,” she said.
Q: Did you keep any mementos from the set?
A: “I gave my scripts to the Yale library,” she said. “They have a theatrical section, so I gave those away. I kept my army boots, which I did auction for my charity, SwitHeart Animal Alliance. I have several dog tags – maybe six or seven – most have been given to me with my name, but one or two that says Hoolihan.”
“I don’t think I kept anything else. I have clothes that resemble the fatigues, which I like to wear at the autograph shows, because people really enjoy that. Yea, so, I have a whole bunch of dogtags. I think, that’s all. Of course, I’ve got a boatload of memories and wonderful private pictures that you can’t get.
“I have my clusters, the major’s insignia, I have those,” she said. “I took those from the show, but I’ve also been given those from majors. I’ve been given a lot of military souvenirs from different people. There’s a coin (challenge coin), for example, that if you go into a lounge or bar – and you put it on the bar – if there’s somebody from the military there, they have to buy you a round of drinks. … I guess, all of those things are so much such a part of me, that I don’t think of them as souvenirs.”
Q: Can you share a little bit about your book, ‘SwitHeart”?
A: “Well, the title tells the story,” she said. “It’s in its second printing, which I’m thrilled about. But, the title is SwitHeart and it is watercolor artistry and animal activism. And my charity is Swit Heart Animal Alliance and it’s doing very well … and this past year was particularly good, because I sold some paintings and when I sell a book, painting or photograph from the web site, it goes to the charity.”
“The book basically encourages the donations, but the watercolors are out there for people who can have the opportunity to buy prints and there’s a French process called giclée … and they look like originals, they’re just fabulous, so they can get those, and they’re not terribly expensive. The originals – I’m happy to say — are a lot more expensive, but I don’t sell as often as the prints and that’s how we raise our money. I’ll be bringing some books to Pittsburgh and that money goes into the charity fund. I don’t know what to say, it’s a dream come true to be combining all those things that I love so much. I love painting.”
Q: You’re so passionate for animals, are you a vegan?
A: “I am indeed, so is Mike Farrell (B.J. Hunnicutt),” she said. “I was a vegetarian before I was into veganism. … I was a vegan when I was shooting “M*A*S*H”, so that was the ’70s. … That’s when they started to really pay more attention about making the food more palatable, more delicious. Years and years ago, vegan food tasted like cardboard.”
