CNN —Louise Fletcher, the actress who won an Academy Award for playing the villainous Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” died Friday in France, according to her agent David Shaul.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” starred Jack Nicholson as a new patient at a mental institution, where Mildred Ratched – played by Fletcher – reigns as an authoritarian, controlling nurse.
In her Oscar speech, Fletcher sweetly thanked her “Cuckoo’s Nest” colleagues and then, using sign language, acknowledged her deaf parents watching at home.
Louise Fletcher Wins Best Actress: 1976 Oscars“I want to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream.
The film swept the top five Oscars for 1975 – for Best Picture, director Milos Forman, adapted screenplay, actor Nicholson and actress Fletcher.