Emmy winner and 'M*A*S*H' actress Loretta Swit dies aged 87

Beloved actress Loretta Swit, forever remembered for her razor-sharp wit and trailblazing role as Maj. Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in M*A*S*H* has died at the age of 87. Swit passed away just after midnight on Friday (May 30) at her home in New York City, according to her publicist, Harlan Boll. A police report confirmed she died of suspected natural causes. Swit won two Emmys for her portrayal of the Army nurse - she was nominated 10 times, every year the show was on the air except the first - and appeared on 240 of the series' 251 episodes during its sensational 11-season run.

Adapting the character from Sally Kellerman's film portrayal of the lusty powerhouse, Swit was one of only two actors to appear in both the pilot and the series finale of MASH*. That finale, which aired in 1983, drew nearly 106 million viewers - a record-breaking TV audience - and featured a now-legendary 35-second kiss between Swit and Alda. The moment has since been dubbed the most expensive kiss in television history, thanks to its airtime value during the high-revenue episode.

As a tough, by-the-book major, Swit's Houlihan broke boundaries as a rare strong woman on television.

"She was [unique] at the time and in her time, which was the '50s, when [the Korean War] was happening," Swit said in a 2004 discussion for the TV Academy Foundation website.

"And she became even more unique, I think, because we allowed her to continue to grow - we watched her evolve. I don't think that's ever been done in quite that way."

Swit enjoyed a varied screen career. She starred in films including Freebie and the Bean (1974), Race With the Devil (1975), and BoardHeads (1998).

One of her standout performances came in Blake Edwards' biting Hollywood satire S.O.B. (1981), where she played talent agent Polly Reed.

In 1981, Swit also starred alongside Tyne Daly in the original pilot for Cagney & Lacey. But due to contractual obligations with MASH*, she was unable to continue when CBS greenlit the series.

Swit was just as prolific on stage. She starred as one of the daffy Pigeon sisters in the Los Angeles run of The Odd Couple alongside comedy legends Don Rickles and Ernest Borgnine.

In 1967, she toured the country in Any Wednesday with Gardner McKay, and made her Broadway debut in Same Time, Next Year opposite Ted Bessell. She later returned to Broadway in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Born on Nov. 4, 1937, in Passaic, New Jersey, Swit studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.

She quickly found work in TV dramas such as Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Gunsmoke, and Hawaii Five-O, as well as the feminist drama Stand Up and Be Counted (1972).

"I had done a guest-starring role [in the premiere episode in 1971] on Glenn Ford's CBS series, Cade's County, which was short-lived, but it was a wonderful role," she recalled.

"The network people, as well as Fox, knew about me, and when the part came up, they thought of me."