Loretta Swit, who knows something about making an entrance, sweeps through the door of the English Room of the Belmont Hotel with a 4-month-old orange marmalade kitten in her hands and deposits it into her visitor`s lap.
”Here,” the Emmy Award-winning M+A+S+H star declares in a voice like warm honey drizzled on gardenia petals, ”this is Buckets.”
The kitten, with its thick coat, four white mittens and pushed-in, wide-eyed face of cats in antique Oriental prints, is adorable.
Swit explains how the kitten acquired its name:
A friend from the Equestrian Oaks stables in Lincolnshire, where Swit rode daily while appearing in a play in Chicago, told her about the kitten, abandoned by its owner in the veterinary hospital where the friend works. A bucket had fallen on its head, and it had been in a coma for two days;
recovered, it had no home.
”Well, I`ll take it,” said the soft-hearted Swit.
Since, the actress and the kitten have been inseparable, parting only when Swit has been onstage in ”Shirley Valentine,” Willy Russell`s long-running one-woman play about a British working-class heroine, which closes Sunday at Wisdom Bridge Theater, 1559 W. Howard St.
Swit took over the role from Ellen Burstyn, who opened the production in March. Swit brought her own vigorous approach to the tale of a woman who rediscovers herself, revitalizes her life and reaffirms her own worth.
She has won numerous awards for her work, including several Emmys and People`s Choice awards, but among the honors of which she is proudest are those reflecting a lifelong passion for the protection of animals.
To millions of TV viewers Swit probably will always be identified with Maj. Margaret ”Hot Lips” Houlihan in M+A+S+H. Since the series ended in 1983, her work has not been as high-profile, but her humanitarian efforts have been unceasing. In recognition, the Animal Protection Institute of America recently named her woman of the year.
She is active in eight humane organizations, including serving as national chairwoman for the Hooved Animal Humane Society, with national headquarters in suburban Woodstock.
Here, she has been active in raising funds for HAHS, which has helped rescue abused and malnourished horses. She gave a benefit performance and a luncheon for the group earlier this month.
Swit began her humane work as a member of Actors and Others for Animals, originated by Doris Day. Now Swit is on the board of directors. Four years ago she joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare-”a superb organization,” she says.
”They fly me up every March to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I have done videos for them on how to behave with the baby seals. People fly in now to see the babies. . . . It is a way of bringing revenue into the country. I stay up there for about a week.
”We have for the most part ended the commercial seal hunt,” she says proudly. ”We can`t stop the individuals inland who are still killing them.” Swit helped obtain a permanent Common Market ban on seal products, which limits the profit motive for killing them.
Born in New Jersey and raised in New York, Swit, who is in her early 50s, lives in California. She keeps a thoroughbred horse of her own, a former racehorse named Tennessee Taters, which she schools and shows in hunter classes. She started riding about three years ago.
”I just wanted to ride well,” she says. ”I watched the jumpers, and it looked like so much fun, and I really fell in love with it. It`s a great sport.”
Swit believes that riding keeps her ”focused on the present.”
”We get on a horse, and it keeps you right there. A friend told me it keeps her from obsessing about the past. I think it is true.”
”I haven`t met a horse I didn`t love. I love caring for them, cleaning them. I love doing my own tack and giving them treats. Even when I fly into Los Angeles and get home at 1 a.m., I get up early in the morning and go see Tennessee.”
Buckets reappears like a jack-in-the-box over the side of the chairs, reconnecting with Swit, flipping over in Swit`s lap and treating Swit`s hand like a feline Nautilus machine.
”She is so dear,” Swit says. ”She has such personality. Sweet and lively. Very kissy. She sleeps with me.
”This is the first cat I`ve ever had. In the past I`ve only had dogs, Pekes and Peke-a-poos. We have my very first little feline; I adore her, and it`s turned me into quite a cat person.”
Swit says she never really set out to become involved in humane work. ”I never really thought it out. I just woke up one day and I was involved in all these projects. They just seemed to involve animals.
”I can`t remember when I wasn`t involved in some humane activities.
(Actress) Betty White is an animal person, and she says, `I don`t know which is my career.`
”I feel the same way. You find yourself so involved in these projects.
”When it comes to the environment, I think I am passionate. The specialists say we have about 40 years to make up our mind. Our planet is dying. Whales will be extinct before we ever get to know them. They say these creatures are so intelligent. They may disappear from the face of the Earth before we know them, and that is a great tragedy.”
Swit has a few suggestions for others who want to help:
”Don`t buy furs, that`s No. 1. You can start with that.
”Then spay and neuter your pets. We destroy millions of them a year. Go to an animal shelter for a cat or dog. And read a book about how to care properly for your particular pet.”
Swit`s next project is ”A Company of Love Letters,” which she will do in New Zealand. ”Then I`ll do more `Shirley Valentine.` ”
She finds the play ”amazing because the author has gotten into the fiber of a woman.
”I think it is a humanist play. In the play, the character says of her husband, `I think he had more life in him than he could use.` There are lines in this play that I will take to my grave, they are so precious to me.
”It is so thrilling to get out there and watch the audience feeling;
Willy Russell has given me this instrument to get out onstage and watch the audience feel. It is amazing, the effect the play`s words have on them. They take the journey with me.”
