Farewell to Louise Fletcher , who became famous in the role of Mildred Ratched , the insensitive head nurse of the psychiatric hospital of Salem from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, the actress died today in France, in Montdurasse: she was 88 years old.
To think that he accepted at the last moment the role in the cult Milos Forman of 1975 , based on the novel by Ken Kasey, with a superb Jack Nicholson. The film grossed $ 112 million and earned six Golden Globes and five Oscars.
The statuette for best leading actress went to Fletcher . "You hated me so much that you finally decided to reward me with this statuette. I can only say that I was delighted to receive first so much hate and now so much love," he said on receiving the Academy award in 1976.
The role of the nurse was written for Ellen Burstyn, but she had to refuse to assist her husband who was also hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital. Fletcher made him an iconic character to the point that Netflix in 2020 made the series "Ratched" (directed by Ryan Murphy, starring Sarah Paulson) dedicated to the story of the nurse.
In over sixty years of career Fletcher has collected several roles in film and on TV . He starred in "Exorcist II: the heretic" (1977), in "The Cheap Detective" (1978), "The lady in red" (1979), "Brainstorm" (1983), "Uncontrollable paranormal phenomena" (1984) ), “Fiori nell'attico” (1987), “Blue Steel” (1990) and “Cruel Intentions” (1999).
She had a recurring role on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and was repeatedly nominated for an Emmy for guest-star roles on "The Brock Family" in 1996 and "Joan of Arcadia" in 2004. Her latest appearances on the Netflix shows "Shamaless" and "Girlboss".
(Unioneonline / D)
