Louise Fletcher, who won an Academy Award for her role in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has died, aged 88.
Fletcher died in her sleep surrounded by family at her home in Montdurausse, France, her agent, David Shaul, told the Associated Press.
Her son Andrew Bick told the Hollywood Reporter she died on Friday of natural causes. She had survived two bouts with breast cancer.
The actor won the Academy Award for best leading actress in 1976 for her portrayal of ruthless nurse Mildred Ratched in Miloš Forman’s adaptation of Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel of the same name. The movie also won awards for best picture, best director, best leading actor and best adapted screenplay.
In her acceptance speech that night, she used American Sign Language to thank her deaf parents and thanked audiences for hating her.
Her portrayal of the character in the film was so memorable that Netflix made a series called Ratched in 2020, which tells the origin story of the nurse turned villain.
Born Estelle Louise Fletcher on 22 July, 1934, she was the second of four children.
She married producer Jerry Bick in the early 1960s and had two sons, John and Andrew. Fletcher divorced Bick in 1977 and is survived by her sons, according to the Associated Press.
