Louise Fletcher (born July 22, 1934, Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.—died September 23, 2022, Montdurausse, France) was an American actress who was perhaps best known for her skillfully underplayed portrayal of the rigidly authoritarian Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), which earned her the Academy Award for best actress.
Fletcher’s father was an Episcopal priest, and both of her parents were deaf. She was introduced to acting by an aunt with whom she and her siblings, all of whom were hearing, spent one full year and summers thereafter to ensure that they learned to speak. (When she accepted her Academy Award, she memorably signed her thanks to her parents.) After graduating (1957) from the University of North Carolina, Fletcher traveled to Los Angeles, where she soon found work making guest appearances on such television shows as Bat Masterson, Maverick, The Untouchables, Wagon Train, and Perry Mason. In 1963 she made her film debut in A Gathering of Eagles, though her role was uncredited. Fletcher then decided to retire from acting and devote herself to her family.
Several years later, director Robert Altman persuaded Fletcher to appear in Thieves Like Us (1974). Her portrayal of a capable mother who initially shelters bank robbers but eventually works with the police caught the attention of director Miloš Forman, and he cast her as Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In addition to winning an Oscar for the performance, she received a BAFTA award and a Golden Globe. Fletcher was frequently typecast thereafter, and her subsequent movies were less notable. She portrayed a psychiatrist in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and had the title role in The Lady in Red (1979), starring Robert Conrad and written by John Sayles. She appeared in several horror films, among them Strange Behavior (1981), Strange Invaders (1983), Firestarter (1984), Invaders from Mars (1986), and Flowers in the Attic (1987). Later film credits included Kathryn Bigelow’s thriller Blue Steel (1989), Altman’s The Player (1992), and the sci-fi thriller Virtuosity (1995).
During this time, Fletcher continued to appear in various TV shows and movies. She played the controlling mother of the title character in the television biopic The Karen Carpenter Story (1989), and in 1996 she was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest appearance on the TV series Picket Fences. She also made guest appearances on the series Profiler and The Practice, and she had a recurring part on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Fletcher received a second Emmy nomination for a 2004 guest role on Joan of Arcadia, and she later played recurring characters on ER, Heroes, Private Practice, Shameless, and Girlboss.