Louise Fletcher, the US actor who won an Oscar in 1976 for her performance as villain Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has died aged 88.
Fletcher died in her sleep surrounded by family at her home in France, her agent David Shaul said.
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Andrew Bick, one of her two sons, told The Hollywood Reporter that she died on Friday of natural causes. She had survived two bouts with breast cancer.
While she was best known for her portrayal of Ratched — a role that won her the Academy Award for Best Leading Actress — Fletcher had an acting career that spanned more than six decades, including numerous appearances in television shows.
She had a recurring role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and garnered Emmy nominations for guest-starring roles on Picket Fences and Joan of Arcadia in 1996 and 2004 respectively.
Born in 1934 in Birmingham, Alabama to hearing-impaired parents, Fletcher used sign language to thank them for their support during her Oscar acceptance speech.
Her last credited work was a two-episode run guest-starring on the Netflix show Girlboss in 2017, according to IMDb.com.
Her portrayal of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was so memorable, streaming platform Netflix made a series called Ratched in 2020, which tells the origin story of the nurse-turned-villain.