'M*A*S*H' actress Loretta Swit dead: publicist

Loretta Swit, the US actress who brought Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan to life in the seminal Korean War comedy series "M*A*S*H" has died. She was 87.

Swit who played the high-strung but flirty Houlihan for the entire TV run of the smash series, was nominated for 10 Emmy awards for her work, winning two of them.

Her death, at her home in Manhattan, was announced by her publicist, who said she was believed to have died of natural causes.

"M*A*S*H," which sprang from an Oscar-winning 1970 film, aired initially in 1972 and was a hit until it finished in 1983.

The comedy was set in a field hospital for the US Army during the Korean War, and starred Alan Alda as Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce.

The series tackled a range of issues from the tragic to the light-hearted, and was sometimes seen as a satire on US involvement in Vietnam -- a war that was still happening when it first began airing.

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"Few actresses captured the imagination of generations of television viewers with the certainty and charm of Loretta Swit," a statement from publicist Harlan Boll said.

"As the quick-witted, impassioned Major Margaret Houlihan... Ms. Swit became an American icon."

Alongside an extensive stage repertoire, Swit appeared in over 25 movies, including playing Christine Cagney in the TV movie that became the long-running cop show "Cagney and Lacey." 

Obligations to the makers of "M*A*S*H" meant she could not continue into the TV series' lengthy run, and the role was ultimately filled instead by Sharon Gless.

Other movies during Swit's career included "Race With the Devil," a 1975 horror starring Peter Fonda, and 1972's "Stand Up and Be Counted" with Jacqueline Bisset.

hg/nl