Margaret Houlihan
Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAR : Margaret Houlihan
| M*A*S*H character | |
 Loretta Swit as Major Margaret Houlihan | |
| "Hot Lips" Houlihan | |
|---|---|
| Rank | Major |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair color | Blonde (dyed) |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Home city | Fort Ord, California, USA |
| MASH (film)>Film portrayer | Sally Kellerman |
| M*A*S*H (TV series)>Television portrayer | Loretta Swit |
| First appearance | M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors |
Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan was a fictional character first created in the Robert Altman film MASH, but, like many of the characters from the world of MASH, is probably better know from the M*A*S*H television show, and, over the 11-year run of the TV show, became a significantly more developed character than she had been in the film. In the movie, she was portrayed by Sally Kellerman; in the TV series she was portrayed by Loretta Swit.
The character of "Hotlips Houlihan" was inspired by real-life Korean War MASH head nurse "Hotlips Hammerly," also a very attractive blonde, of the same disposition, and also from El Paso, Texas.
Major Houlihan is a member of the Army Nurse Corps and in charge of all the nurses at the MASH 4077 unit. She is devoted to her army career, having been born into the tradition. Her father, Colonel Alvin "Howitzer Al" Houlihan, was her role-model for her career. She was born in an army hospital and grew up on army bases, most notably Fort Ord.
Margaret can be very strict and deplores anyone who does not live up to her standard of military discipline, but she also displays her passionate side in the early part of the series through her relationship with Frank Burns. This relationship eventually ran its course (there were hints that she really wasn't happy with Frank and knew he wasn't the man they both liked to think he was) and Margaret became engaged to, and then married, Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscot (which precipitated Frank's departure). Colonel Potter and even Hawkeye and BJ feared she was making a mistake, caught up in the euphoria of being too happy, of being in love with the idea of being in love, and in the end, they were right. The marriage did not last very long with Donald mistreating and cheating on her. Later, she had a brief affair with Jack Scully, but that did not last very long, either with his increasingly obvious dismissal of her rank and her worth as a woman. On two occasions when she was drunk she came on to Captain Trapper John McIntyre, professing how attractive she found his crooked smile and sturdy frame. She also had a brief fling with Hawkeye Pierce, whose talent for kissing often left her speechless.
Hot Lips spent the early part of the series battling Hawkeye and Trapper along with Frank and, additionally, criticizing Lt. Col. Henry Blake for his lack of authority when not going over his head, filing formal complaints. Many early jokes were at her expense, such as when a gassed boxer fell on her and Frank and when she said the oxymoronic description of Hawkeye & Trapper John: "They're ruining this war for all of us!" While she didn't seem to hate Henry as an individual, she once described him as a "golf playing figurehead" and later as a "fly fishing imposter". Henry generally let her criticisms roll off his back, but at one point he mocked Hot Lips by saying that she'd gone over his head so many times she'd given him "athlete's scalp". It was a huge sign of Henry's kind, forgiving nature that he did not have her court martialed for being drunk in the second season. Still, she and Frank both wept for Henry when they heard of his death. By contrast, she got along very well with Colonel Sherman T. Potter, the camp's 2nd CO, who was something of a father figure to her.
Over the run of the show Margaret mellowed from a completely "by-the-book" head nurse who wanted everything done according to regulation, but was not above using her romantic contacts with superior officers to attempt to get her way, to a more relaxed member of the cast who tempered her authority with humanity. Key episodes in this development were "The Nurses" which had Margaret making an emotional tirade to her nurses about how their disdain of her hurt, which thoroughly stuns them, and "Comrade In Arms" where Hawkeye and Margaret make peace once and for all while lost in the wilderness. When the show ended Margaret was on her way back to the US to take up a position in an army hospital.
Some fans regretted the change of heart in Hot Lips' character. While some loved how she became a kinder, more gentle person, others felt that she worked better as strict, no-nonsense antagonist with a slight problem regarding her passion. Even at her most antagonistic, she was generally allowed more humanity than her fellow antagonist, Frank Burns.
The name "Hot Lips" orginates from M*A*S*H, the movie (in which Margaret O'Houlihan is played by Sally Kellerman) when, during a romantic meeting with Frank, other members of the camp overhear her asking Frank to kiss her "hot lips". This nickname was used more in the earlier seasons and was used less and less as time went on.
Decorations
Several times throughout the series, the awards that Major Houlihan had earned during her service in the army could be seen on her uniform. She had earned the:External links
- [Finest-Kind.net] - M*A*S*H website with character profile
- [Best Care Anywhere] - M*A*S*H website with character profile
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