How Did the ‘M*A*S*H’ Star Die? – Hollywood Life

Loretta Swit left behind a legacy from her acting career. Best known for playing the role of Major Margaret Houlihan in M*A*S*H, Swit was eventually cast in a variety of film and television roles. In May 2025, the actress died at the age of 87. While her official cause of death is still pending, multiple outlets reported that her age may have been a contributing factor in her death.

As Swit once said in a 1979 interview with People, “But I love my work, and I love my friends. I can’t imagine having a happier life.” She made it clear how much she loved her career and inner circle, and we’re remembering Swit below. Learn more about Swit’s life, career and death.

I don’t know if there is a more appropriate goodbye to Loretta Swit, than her last scene in MASH in the series finale.

Loretta won two Emmy’s for her role as Major Houlihan. pic.twitter.com/4LXmZZFH5N

— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) May 31, 2025

Loretta Swit’s Cause of Death

Swit was suspected to have died from natural causes, according to multiple outlets. However, a report from the coroner’s office is still pending, according to NBC News.

Was Loretta Swit Married?

Swit was previously married to ex-husband Dennis Holahan from 1983 to 1995. As M*A*S*H fans recall, Holahan appeared in an episode of the series. After her decade-long marriage ended, the late actress said she was content with never marrying again. During a 1979 interview with People, the late Emmy Award winner said she was “not interested in being married.”

As for her reason why? “I have a career and friends and things I care about doing,” Swit pointed out. “I don’t want a lot of other demands. And, thanks to [M*A*S*H co-star] Alan [Alda], who has deep insight about women, I don’t feel guilty anymore about not wanting a family. My parents and friends are my family.”

Swit was no stranger to the ways in which women were portrayed on screen and how they were perceived off screen. During her interview with People, she recalled working with Jacqueline “Jackie” Bisset on the 1972 film Stand Up and Be Counted.

“I realized that sexist put-downs happened even to beautiful, wonderful people like Jackie, when one poisonous columnist wrote that she wished Jackie would get a wedding ring from Michael Sarrazin for Christmas,” Loretta said at the time. “Jackie was humiliated. It was so stupid because she just didn’t want to get married. “A few months ago I ran into sort of the same thing. I was dating a man in New York [stockbroker Dick Farwell] and people were constantly asking if we were going to get married — as if it were my last chance and I was dying to do it. Unfortunately, he told someone he thought it was inevitable.”