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Sadly Hollywood has lost one of its greats. Louise Fletcher died at her home in Montdurausse, France at the age of 88 on Saturday (September 24). The actress is a rarity in Tinseltown, she found fame very late in life after taking a break from her career to support her family. When she returned to the screen for 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – in her early 40s and little-known – but it was a blast: Louise came away with the Academy Award for Best Actress for her incredible transformation as Nurse hateful Ratch, who turned Jack Nicholson’s Randle McMurphy’s life into a hell on earth in the psyche of the Organization.
Keep reading to learn all about the late actress, below!
1. Where does Louise start?
Born on July 22, 1934 in Birmingham, Alabama, Louise studied drama at North Carolina State University. She then moved to Los Angeles to begin her acting career, working as a receptionist by day and apprenticed at night until landing small roles on television, according to NPR.
2. Her parents are deaf.
Louise’s mother was born deaf and her preacher father lost his hearing when he was struck by lightning at the age of 4. Louise said in 1982: “It’s like having immigrant parents who don’t speak your language.
3. Who originally turned down Louise’s Nurse Ratch role?
Set and filmed at Oregon State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, in Oregon in 1974, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest directed by Milos Forman and based on Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel of the same name. It went on to become the first film since 1934’s It Happened One Night to win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. best. The last movie to do so was The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.
Milos had seen Louise’s work the previous year as a director Robert Altman’s Thieves like us and thought she would be good for the role of Nurse Ratch. Lucky for Louise, the role was given to a number of big-name stars of the day, including Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn and Angela Lansbury, each store.
“I was the last to be selected,” she recalled in a 2004 interview NPR. “It wasn’t until we were halfway through filming that I learned that the part had been given to other actresses who didn’t want to appear so terrible on the screen.”
4. Who did Louise thank in her Oscar speech?
After taking the stage to accept her Oscar, Louise told her deaf parents in sign language: “I want to thank you for teaching me to have dreams. You are seeing my dreams come true,” she told them.
5. Louise has been inactive for 11 years raising her family
After marrying Jerry Bick in the early 1960s and welcoming two sons, John and Andrew, with a producer, Louise decided to retire from acting to raise her children. The period of stay is 11 years. “I made the choice to stop working, but I don’t see it as a choice,” she explained in a 2004 interview, per NPR. “I feel compelled to stay at home.”
