Louise Fletcher.Photo: Michael Montfort/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Louise Fletcher, the actress who played the menacing Nurse Ratched inOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has died, PEOPLE can confirm. She was 88.
He added: “Representing her was a joy and highlight of my almost 40 years as an agent.”
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Fletcher was best known on screen for starring oppositeJack Nicholsonin the classic 1975 Milos Foreman film, and she took home the Best Actress Oscar in 1976 as a result of her performance.One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nestalso won four other Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor, which went to Nicholson, 85.
After earning an Academy Award for her breakout role at age 41, Fletcher thanked her deaf parents during her Oscars acceptance speech. “I want to thank you for teaching me to have a dream,” she signed. “You are seeing my dream come true.”
Fletcher, born in Alabama in 1934, took on plenty of other roles throughout her decades in show business as well, including a recurring role as Kai Winn Adami in the ’90s television seriesStar Trek: Deep Space Nine. As theofficialStar TrekTwitter accountwrote of Fletcher on Friday, her contributions to the franchise will “never be forgotten.”
She then continued to impress audiences again with her work in 1999’sCruel Intentions, as well as her Emmy-winning performances in 1996’sPicket Fencesand 2004’sJoan of Arcadia. In 2017, she appeared on Netflix’sGirlboss.
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“I was the last person cast,” Fletcher recalled ofCuckoo’s Nestin 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.”
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Fletcher’s career left a major impact on several actors, including Oscar-winning starMarlee Matlin, who remembered herPicket Fencescostar as a trailblazer, tweeting a photo of them together Friday.
“Sad to read of the passing of Louise Fletcher. Brilliant actress & Academy Award winner, I remember her as the daughter of Deaf parents (CODA) who was the FIRST to sign her acceptance speech atthe Oscars,” she wrote. “And she was so lovely as my mother on ‘Picket Fences.’ RIP dear Louise.”
source: people.com
