Loretta Swit played ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan in hit US series M*A*S*H but tells ME & MY MONEY how she almost left

Double-Emmy Award-winning actress Loretta Swit was already an established stage and television star when she landed the role of Commander Margaret ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan on the hit show M*A*S*H in 1972.

Unlike several co-stars, she stayed the course and finally hung up her dog tags when the show about American military doctors serving overseas ended in 1983.

Swit has also starred in stage and film comedies and dramas, from Mission: Impossible to The Muppet Show.

Swit, 86, now an author and entrepreneur with her own jewelry and perfume line, tells Dan Moore that she is an animal rights activist.

Since her divorce from actor Dennis Holahan in 1995, she has shared her New York home with two rescue dogs, Yorkshire terriers.

Where did you get the acting bug?

My family didn’t understand me at all. They were baffled by my passion for acting. We laughed about it later because they were so resistant to me doing it, and then they were so proud when I turned it over. It’s not that they didn’t love me or want me to be happy, they just knew that the chances of making a living acting weren’t good.

Did you have difficulty making a living when you started?

Nothing fantastic comes easy. I trained and then worked as an executive secretary. I joined Kelly Girls, an employment service that placed secretaries in jobs where they could create their own schedule. This was imperative for me because I had to look for work as an actor and take long lunches to audition.

I had some extraordinary jobs. I worked at the UN and the Ghana embassy as the ambassador’s secretary. The secretarial job was a varied and colorful job, but it didn’t pay me much, just enough to cover groceries and $75 a month in rent. Now, you wouldn’t get a closet in New York for that amount. He also earned about $15 a week in an off-Broadway show. That helped.

When did you feel like you had made it as an actor?

If acting were your main job, rather than a side job, when you were out of work you could collect a benefit. This effectively meant that you made it as an actor when you were standing in line for your unemployment check!

How did M*A*S*H change your career?

From the first moment I thought we had something very special. I thought the formula was unbeatable. The stories, the dramas, really impact. There were people doing noble work in a place they didn’t want to be. It’s dangerous, terrible (sew up bodies of children who weren’t old enough to shave), and restrictive, especially for those who had families at home.

As for me, it wasn’t about the money, which was fine, but about consistency and working all the time on something you enjoy with the people you love. It was like dying and going to actors’ paradise.

What was your best year financially?

That would be the mid-1970s. I had to fight a lot with the writers to convince them that my character, Margaret, could be funny and still have integrity. I won the right to change her name from ‘Hot Lips’ to Margaret, in honor of every servicewoman who went to Korea, who was not there to be decorated, but to do a job. As for the pay, I’m not sure it increased in line with the character’s growth, but it was okay.

For a nanosecond I thought about leaving M*A*S*H to do Cagney & Lacey, about two NYPD detectives. He had done the pilot film and was devastated. In the end I didn’t leave. In any case, Fox and CBS, which own both shows, said they wouldn’t let me get out of my contract.

This would have been the perfect opportunity for my agent to come in and say, ‘You’re going to have to pay him double what he’s getting.’ But they didn’t and I moved on. I found the work rewarding, it was a secure job at that stage and I was earning enough money to feel satisfied. Not hundreds of thousands, but enough to feel loved and have financial security.

Are you a spender or a saver?

I am a saver. I am not frivolous, although all the visits to Giorgio’s restaurant in New York do not support this theory.

What is your best gift?

I love my house, my animals and I have a big fireplace. I have some good close friends and we get together to chat and laugh.

Do you have a pension?

We all did it, automatically, if you were in the union. So a little bit was taken from each paycheck and the rest accumulated over time. It has been very useful.

What has been your best monetary decision?

Buying my first house, a three-story house on the border of Hollywood and Beverly Hills, just before M*A*S*H. This was due to some starring roles on well-paying shows like Hawaii 5-0, Gunsmoke, and Bonanza, and I paid around $545,000. I made a down payment of $12,000, which was all I had. I read recently that it had sold for $5 million (£4 million). I now live in a lovely old high-ceilinged apartment, with its beautiful fireplace, in a glorious part of New York, but it’s not in that league financially.

What is your financial priority?

My charity, SwitHeart Animal Alliance. It is a global company that helps animals get the treatment they need if they have been abandoned, abused, or because their owners cannot afford care.

I work with some veterinarians who lower their prices so we can cover the rest to perform an essential surgery that a family who loves their dog or cat could not afford.

How does SwitHeart fund your animal charity?

We can cover surgeries through our partnerships with other like-minded organizations, donations and other support.

I donated all profits from my animal painting book, SwitHeart: The Watercolor Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit, to the cause. The same goes for my jewelry and perfume line.

We recently had a kitten that needed an amputation, which is very expensive, and we were able to pay for that operation. It is something wonderful. Everyone wins.

We have not raised excessive amounts, we do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars on hand. Every time we have money, we distribute it for primary care.

• For more information about Loretta Swit’s Animal Alliance charity, visit switheart.org.