Louise Fletcher, Oscar winner as Nurse Ratched in ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ dies at 88
Louise Fletcher, who won a best actress Oscar for her role as Jack Nicholson's cruel screen nemesis Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest," has died. She was 88.
Fletcher died in her sleep surrounded by family at her home in Montdurausse, France, on Friday her agent David Shaul tells USA TODAY. No cause of death was given.
The classic 1975 film "Cuckoo's Nest" followed the patients and staff of an Oregon psychiatric hospital. The Milos Foreman-directed film won five Oscars in 1976, including best actress, best picture and best director. Jack Nicholson won the best actor Oscar for his indelible performance as patient Randle P. McMurphy, who flouts the tyrannical rule of Nurse Ratched in the ward.
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
Born in Alabama to deaf parents — Fletcher made one of the most touching acceptance speeches in Oscar history after her win.
Clutching her Oscar at the 1976 ceremony, Fletcher told the audience, smiling, "It looks as though you all hated me so much. But you have given me this award for it. And I'm loving every minute of it. All I can say is, I've loved being hated by you."
She then tearfully addressed her deaf parents in Birmingham, Alabama, talking and using sign language: "I want to thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dream come true."
A moment of silence was followed by thunderous applause.
After putting her career on hold for years to raise her children, Fletcher was in her early 40s and little known when chosen for the "Cuckoo's Nest" role by Foreman, who had admired her work the year before in director Robert Altman’s "Thieves Like Us." At the time, she didn’t know that many other prominent stars, including Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn and Angela Lansbury, had turned it down.
“I was the last person cast,” she recalled in a 2004 Associated Press interview. “It wasn’t until we were halfway through shooting that I realized the part had been offered to other actresses who didn’t want to appear so horrible on the screen."
The character was so memorable she would become the basis for a Ryan Murphy Netflix series, "Ratched," 45 years later, starring Sarah Paulson as Nurse Mildred Ratched.
Fletcher also starred as a psychiatrist in "Exorcist II: The Heretic" (1977). On TV, she portrayed Bajoran religious leader Kai Winn Adami on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" from 1993 to 1999.
"Her contributions to the Star Trek universe will never be forgotten," the official "Star Trek" Twitter page tweeted Friday.
She played the controlling mother of the famed title character in the 1989 biopic "The Karen Carpenter Story." In 1996 Fletcher was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest appearance on "Picket Fences," playing the mother of Mayor Laurie Bey (Marlee Matlin).
Hate to say it, but I thought Cloris Leachman played Nurse Ratched.
RIP, Louise Fletcher. _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 90299 Location: Formerly Known As 24
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 11:33 am Post subject:
Dr. Laker wrote:
Hate to say it, but I thought Cloris Leachman played Nurse Ratched.
RIP, Louise Fletcher.
That would have change the tone of the movie a bit… _________________ “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel
Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 67312 Location: In a world where admitting to not knowing something is considered a great way to learn.
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 11:54 am Post subject:
Louise Fletcher played the role to a T. I sometimes refer to Nurse Ratched when AH and I are exchanging old folks' home barbs. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is a classic. RIP _________________ Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Ratched was arguably more interesting than RP in Cuckoo's. Saw a bit of it on free YT, this news must be why it's on there at all. I don't think Ratched was a villain, per se. She wanted to keep MacMurphy to "help" him (didn't wanna pass the buck by sending him to the next facility). It's just that RP's line "she likes a rigged game" was correct. One of those people who demand obedience to their authority even if they're not the one meting out the actual punishment. I like the interplay between her and the doctor staff as well as the orderlies, who grin and laugh behind her back when she's surveying the party damage. She uses Washington, the most aggressive of the three main orderlies, as her cudgel. I think she thought her intentions were good, but her personality tick obviously didn't mesh with what was essentially a 38 yr old child who bristled at dishonesty/phoniness. Mac was one of those Holden Caufield type characters that were "hip" around that time. The ECT scene is really exaggerated, but still powerful. The entire movie is one of the most powerful and poignant of the 70s, which says a lot considering that decade in film.
Here's her Oscar. The movie cleaned up that year maybe more than Godfather 1 did, but I'd have to verify.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum