Oscar-winning Louise Fletcher dead at 88
Fox News
The Academy Award-winning Louise Fletcher passed away in her home in Montdurausse, France, surrounded by her family, a representative said.
Louise Fletcher holds the Academy Award she won for her leading role in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" in Los Angeles, March 30, 1976. (AP Photo/File) Louise Fletcher, a cast member in "Shameless," poses at the premiere of the second season of the Showtime television series in Los Angeles, Jan. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
The Birmingham native was a pioneer in Hollywood and defined what it meant to be a villain in a feature film after her riveting performance as Nurse Ratched in 1975’s "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," for which she won an Academy Award.
In the Milos Forman-directed film, Fletcher starred opposite Jack Nicholson in a role that was turned down by prominent stars including Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn and Angela Lansbury.