CNN
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Louise Fletcher, the actress who received an Academy Award for enjoying the villainous Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” died Friday in France, in keeping with her agent David Shaul. She was 88.
Shaul mentioned Fletcher died of “pure causes,” with out offering additional particulars. She was surrounded by household at her dwelling in Montdurausse.
Shaul, who mentioned he labored with Fletcher over the previous few a long time, mentioned she lived in a transformed a 300-year-old farmhouse there and in addition had a residence in Los Angeles.
“France was her favourite place on the planet; she constructed a house in a gorgeous place that she liked,” he mentioned. “She was a terrific girl – what a profession.”
Fletcher’s Oscar got here for her second film after a protracted break from appearing to boost her kids.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” starred Jack Nicholson as a brand new affected person at a psychological establishment, the place Mildred Ratched – performed by Fletcher – reigns as an authoritarian, controlling nurse.
In her Oscar speech, Fletcher sweetly thanked her “Cuckoo’s Nest” colleagues after which, utilizing signal language, acknowledged her deaf dad and mom watching at dwelling.
“I wish to say thanks for instructing me to have a dream. You might be seeing my dream come true,” she instructed them.
The movie swept the highest 5 Oscars for 1975 – for Finest Image, director Milos Forman, tailored screenplay, actor Nicholson and actress Fletcher.
Her position turned thought to be one in every of movie historical past’s best villains, No. 5 on the checklist compiled by the American Movie Institute, behind the likes of Hannibal Lecter and the Depraved Witch of the West.
In 2020, Fletcher’s position impressed a by-product, the Ryan Murphy TV sequence “Ratched.”
Fletcher additionally had a seamless position within the “Star Trek: Deep Area 9” sequence and performed Helen Rosemond within the 1999 movie “Merciless Intentions,” amongst many different movie and TV credit. Most lately, she appeared within the Netflix comedy sequence “Lady Boss” and on the sequence “Shameless.”
Fletcher is survived by her two sons, John and Andrew Bick; her sister, Roberta Ray; and a granddaughter. Fletcher was married to Jerry Bick in 1959 and the couple divorced in 1977.