# Loretta Swit: Hot or Not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759 "2014-03-03T16:55:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/41 "2014-03-07T00:42:44Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Now, Sally Kellerman is a ‘hot lips’ who was totally not hot. In a hotness showdown I’d pick Loretta Swit over her any day. Excuse me? In what universe was Loretta Swit ever remotely close to Sally Kellerman in terms of sheer hotness?!? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/42 "2014-03-07T00:48:53Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > “Oh, Frank! My lips are hot!” You left out “Kiss my hot lips!” :o And at breakfast the next morning, Hawkeye sent Frank over the edge by asking if she was “better than self-abuse.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/43 "2014-03-07T00:52:24Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > [Example 1](http://static.cinemagia.ro/img/resize/db/actor/01/15/76/loretta-swit-452536l-poza.jpg) > > [Example 2](http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsS/tve16813-106-207.jpg) > > [Example 3](http://imagebox.cz.osobnosti.cz/foto/loretta-swit/N445797-56dc6.jpg) > > [Example 4](http://www.celebs101.com/gallery/Loretta_Swit/71104/loretta_swit_photo_18.jpg) That is one HOT woman! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/44 "2014-03-07T00:55:44Z")
For what it’s worth, she was described in the novel as a fairly ordinary looking fortyish blonde woman. “She was tallish, willowy, blondish, fortyish. She had a nice figure. She was, in fact, a nice-looking forty-year-old female.” Not a bombshell, and older than most of the main characters. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/45 "2014-03-07T00:58:49Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > She was, however, not hot. Not hot, but cute as a button! 🙂 Michelle Phillips (Mackenzie’s stepmother) was Lt. Dish in a few first-season episodes (she was played by Jo Ann Pflug in the movie), but was soon dropped along with most of the supporting cast. I always thought the nurses Radar was infatuated with were really cute, especially the one who liked classical music. She could play Bach for me any time! :o ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/46 "2014-03-07T01:03:40Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > For what it’s worth, she was described in the novel as a fairly ordinary looking fortyish blonde woman. “She was tallish, willowy, blondish, fortyish. She had a nice figure. She was, in fact, a nice-looking forty-year-old female.” > > Not a bombshell, and older than most of the main characters. That is almost exactly how I would describe Swit’s Hot Lips. I wouldn’t have used the word “willowy”. Maybe “sturdy”. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/47 "2014-03-07T01:05:18Z")
Ah, Bach! ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/48 "2014-03-07T12:34:15Z")
River Hippie: > [@](#): > > I wouldn’t have used the word “willowy”. Maybe “sturdy”. That’s what Donald Penobscot said! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/49 "2014-03-07T13:32:39Z")
I’d say she was average looking, neither insanely attractive or remotely ugly. But she knew how to use what she had. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/50 "2014-03-07T14:12:57Z")
I haven’t watched the show in ages and posted my initial response from memory. But I was also a kid when I saw most of them and I guess Swit just struck me as older and thus uninteresting. Now that I’m in the age bracket she was in during the show, I can see a lot more of the attraction. No amazing Hollywood temptress but I’d swing her into the “hot” column given the binary choice. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/51 "2014-03-07T14:58:26Z")
Okay, there seems to be some confusion here over TV MASH, Movie MASH, and Book MASH. In the film and book, Radar was NOT the innocent boy he was in the series and Hawkeye wasn’t the lothario/chief malcontent that he was in the series either. In the film, O’Houlihan (she had an O’ then) got her nickname during the coronation celebration when Trapper got named Chief Surgeon. Radar ran the cord and planted the microphone under her cot. And then, back in the radio room, after Trapper, Duke, Radar, Diego Red (I love the Bickersons!) and a couple others listened in, they decided to share the proceedings with the rest of the camp and switched it over to PA. Hawkeye was in surgery at the time, he commented to I think it was Ugly John that it seemed that Major Burns was performing a dilation and curettage on Major O’Houlihan. The major reason Wayne Rogers left the series was he was tired of Trapper being second fiddle to Hawkeye. In the film and book, the characters were equals or Trapper was a bit higher in status. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/52 "2014-03-07T15:31:25Z")
Correction: _Dago_ Red. The nickname comes from the book and involves an incident with some sacramental wine. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/53 "2014-03-07T15:37:50Z")
I never found her particularly attractive. Nothing wrong with her at all, but she just didn’t do much for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kerchak\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mr.Kerchak\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kerchak_1)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/54 "2015-05-17T12:03:19Z")
I think she was very sexy in early MASH. Maybe I’m biased by having watched her in my ‘formative’ years. Wide sensual mouth. I don’t think she ever really showed her body. You were left to assume she was curvy under the fatigues. (Or assume she wasn’t curvy if you don’t like curvy.) The word ‘saucy’ comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/55 "2015-05-17T14:15:47Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I always thought Miss Piggy’s temperament was based on Swit’s “Hot Lips”. But Miss Piggy has better hair. I always felt “Hot Lips” was closer to **Peanut** ’s Lucy Van Pelt. Except blond. Sorta. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/56 "2015-05-17T15:58:55Z")
Not hot woman playing a hot character. By ‘hot’ I mean in terms of attitude and personality, she’s fine with me physically. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/57 "2015-05-17T17:32:42Z")
Hot, but not smokin’ hot. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/58 "2015-05-17T22:21:22Z")
Would she make an attractive zombie, or are all zombies equally unattractive? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/59 "2015-05-17T22:32:26Z")
I don’t know that she was considered “ugly” in _ **Mission: Impossible** _. Her character was just what I would call “plain” or “mannish” (since she was shown to be a tomboy when she was a child). Hell, I once had someone try to tell me that Sandra Bullock was “mannish,” which completely blew me away. I think she’s yummy! :o ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759/60 "2015-05-17T22:36:05Z")
She wasn’t bad, but I thought that the woman who played “Hot Lips” in the movie - Sally Kellerman - was better looking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/loretta-swit-hot-or-not/682759.md?page=4)