Louise Fletcher, a late-blooming star whose riveting performance as the cruel and calculating Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” set a new standard for screen villains and won her an Academy Award, has died at age 88.
Fletcher died in her sleep surrounded by family at her home in Montdurausse, France, her agent David Shaul told The Associated Press on Friday.
Fletcher had moved to Los Angeles to launch her acting career soon after graduating from North Carolina State University.
Estelle Louise Fletcher was born the second of four children on July 22, 1934, in Birmingham.
The Fletcher children were helped by their aunt, with whom they lived in Bryant, Texas, for a year.