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| Biography | |
When she is not on the stage or on screen, she watercolors sketches, plays tennis and shows a strong interest in languages and yoga. Her passion for needlepoint was reflected in her book Needlepoint Scrapbook and she also wrote and illustrated a children's book. | |
| Filmography | |
This filmography is based on the Internet Movie Database: English | |
| Awards | |
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In 1969 she gave her screen debut as a guest player in Hawaii Five-O, followed by a large number of guest roles in series like Mannix (1970), Mission: Impossible (1970), and Bonanza (1970). In 1971 she settled in Hollywood and was cast as Hot Lips Houlihan for the TV series M*A*S*H in 1972 as only woman with a full-time role during the entire run. During the 11 years, Swit won two Emmy awards for Best Supporting Actress in a comedy series. She became the first cast member of M*A*S*H to actually visit Korea when she narrated the documentary, Korea, the Forgotten War for Arnold Shapiro. She returned for a pre-Olympic television variety special with Julio Iglesias. During filming the last year of M*A*S*H, she met actor Dennis Holahan, whom she married on December 21, 1983. The couple divorced in 1995.
Beneath starring in M*A*S*H, she gave her feature film debut in Stand Up and Be Counted (1972). She gained some attention two years later playing a gangster's wife in Freebie and the Bean (1974), but her best screen role to date was Polly Reed in Blake Edwards' S.O.B. (1981). She also appeared in TV movies nearly every year and continued having guest spots in other series like Petrocelli (1974) and The Love Boat (1977 and 1978). In 1981, she originated the role of Christine Cagney in the CBS TV movie Cagney & Lacey and wanted also to star in the TV series of the same name, but her M*A*S*H contract prevented her from it, since FOX would not let her out.
In addition to her film and TV work, Swit returned to Broadway succeeding Cleo Laine as Princess Puffer in Rupert Holmes' Tony Award winning musical Drood/The Mystery of Edwin Drood in the 80s. After the end of M*A*S*H, she continued starring in TV movies, including First Affair (1983), The Execution (1985),
and A Matter of Principle (1990), and appeared in some feature films like Whoops Apocalypse (1986), Forest Warrior (1996), and her last screen role until now, Beach Movie (1998). In 1989 Swit was awarded a star on Hollywood's prestigous Walk Of Fame. She became less active in front of the camera during the Nineties and concentrated on other aspects: She always was a vocal animal activist to prevent the slaughter of fur-bearing animals for high-fashion clothing. She was named Woman of the Year by the Animal Protection Institute of America and also teamed with Robert Redford for a PBS special centering on animal species threatened with extinction.
From 1992 to 93 she hosted Those Incredible Animals on the Discovery Channel. Recently she returned to the stage and starred in A Passionate Woman (March 21, 2000 to April 16, 2000) at Florida's Coconut Grove Playhouse and in London in The Vagina Monologues (late 2001 to present).
