Revisiting the 1980 SAG-AFTRA Strike with ‘MASH’ Stars, an Emmy Boycott and All-Night Negotiating Sessions: ‘We’re Going to Strike Like Hell’
variety.comCynthia Littleton Business Editor Loretta Swit remembers well the night she won her first Emmy Award. On Sept. 7, 1980, the “MASH” star sat in her agent’s living room in Beverly Hills, watching the ceremony on TV when she heard her name called out and saw her picture flash on the screen.
Swit was not in the audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium that year because her union, the Screen Actors Guild, was on strike.
Swit and her fellow “MASH” troupers Alan Alda, Mike Farrell and Jamie Farr were among the most vocal and visible actors on picket lines and at press conferences when SAG initiated its first work stoppage in 20 years on July 21, 1980.
The reality of her Emmy win – after seven consecutive nominations — sunk in for Swit when she suddenly got a phone call from Europe from her friend Jacqueline Bisset. “She was so excited.
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