Loretta Swit was a hit on M*A*S*H… but tells ME & MY MONEY how she almost left for more money

Double Emmy Award-winning actress Loretta Swit was already an established theater and TV star when she took on the role of Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on the hit show M*A*S*H in 1972.

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

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

Now an author and entrepreneur with her own jewelry and perfume line, Swit, 86, tells Dan Moore 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 amazed by my passion for acting. We laughed about it later because they resisted so much when I went in, and then they were so proud when I turned it over.

It wasn’t that they didn’t love me or didn’t want me to be happy, they just knew that the chances of making a living from acting weren’t good.

Did you struggle to make a living when you started?

Nothing great comes easy. I trained and then worked as an executive secretary. I joined the Kelly Girls, a job placement service that placed secretaries in jobs where they could make their own schedules. This was absolutely necessary for me as I had to look for acting work and take long lunches to audition.

I had some special jobs. I have worked at the UN and at the Embassy of Ghana as Secretary to the Ambassador. Secretarial work was a varied, colorful job, but I didn’t get paid much, just enough to cover groceries and the $75 a month rent.

You wouldn’t get a closet for that amount in New York. I also made about $15 a week doing an off-Broadway show. That helped.

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

If acting was your main job, rather than a side hustle, if you were out of work you could get benefits. This basically meant that you made it as an actor while standing in line for your unemployment check!

How has M*A*S*H changed your career?

From the start I thought we had something very special. I thought the formula was unbeatable. The stories, the dramas really touched me.

You had people doing noble work in a place they didn’t want to be. It is dangerous, terrible – stitching together the bodies of boys who were not yet 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 okay, it was about the consistency, and working all the time on something you love, with people you love. It was like dying and going to acting heaven.

What was your best year financially?

That would have been the mid-seventies. I had to fight hard 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 soldier who went to Korea and was there not for decoration, but to do a job. When it came to the reward, I’m not sure if it increased in line with the character’s growth, but it was fine.

For a nanosecond I considered leaving M*A*S*H for Cagney & Lacey, about two New York police detectives. I had made the pilot film and was torn. In the end I didn’t leave. Anyway, Fox and CBS, who owned both shows, said they wouldn’t let me out of my contract.

This would have been the perfect opportunity for my agent to go in and say, “You’re going to have to pay her double what she gets.” But they didn’t and I just kept going.

I found the work worthwhile, it was a safe job at the time and I made enough money to be satisfied. Not hundreds of thousands, but enough to feel wanted and be financially secure.

Are you a spender or a saver?

I am a saver. I’m not frivolous – although all the trips to Giorgio’s restaurant in New York don’t support this theory.

What’s your top treat?

I love my home, my animals, and I have a great fireplace. I have some good, close friends and we meet for a joke and a laugh.

Do you have a pension?

We all did that automatically if you were a member of the union. So a little was deducted from each paycheck, and the remainder built up over time. It has come in handy.

What has been your best money decision?

I’m buying my first house, a three-story house on the border of Hollywood and Beverly Hills, right before M*A*S*H. This was due to some leading roles in shows that paid well, such as 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 recently read that it sold for $5 million (£4 million). Now I live in a beautiful old apartment with a high ceiling and a beautiful fireplace in a beautiful part of New York, but financially it’s not in that league.

What is your financial priority?

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

I work with a number of veterinarians who are lowering their prices so we can cover the rest to get essential surgeries done that a family that loves their dog or cat couldn’t afford.

How do you fund your SwitHeart animal charity?

We can fund operations through our alliances with other like-minded organizations, donations and other support.

I donated all proceeds from my book of animal paintings – SwitHeart: The Watercolor Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit – to charity. The same goes for my jewelry and perfume line.

Recently we had a small cat that needed an amputation, which is very expensive, and we were able to afford that surgery. It’s a wonderful thing. Everyone wins.

We didn’t raise excessive amounts; we don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars on hand. Every time we have money, we distribute it to primary care.

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