Louise Fletcher dies: nurse Ratched in ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ with Jack Nicholson
The Oscar-winning actress has died aged 88 and will be best remembered for her iconic performance as Nurse Ratched alongside Jack Nicholson.
Louise Fletcher, who came to fame after a stunning performance alongside Jack Nicholson in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has died at her home in the south of France. She was 88.
She had fairly average acting career up until the film which earned her an Oscar win. The film itself cost less tahn $5 million to make but fetched $163.3 million at the box office. From 116 critic reviews it has a 93 percent rating and also has a 96 percent rating from more than a quarter of a million audience ratings according to Rotten Tomatoes. Her performance as Nurse Ratchet facing off against Nicholson is frequently lauded.
The American Film Institute put Nurse Ratched behind only The Wicked Witch of the West, Darth Vader, Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter in its ranking of film’s greatest villains.
Fletcher was born on 22 July, 1934 and had two deaf parents. She was taught to speak by her aunt after which she took up acting. This experience is present in her Oscar acceptance speech which she translated to American sign language on stage.
Outside of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Fletcher featured in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as well as guest-star roles in Picket Fences and Joan of Arcadia whch earned her two Emmy award nominations.
Robert Hewitt Wolfe, a writer for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, said, “‘It was an honour and a pleasure to write for Louise Fletcher, one of the absolute great A blazing talent and a compete class act.”