American actress Louise Fletcher, who won the Oscar for best actress for her role in the film Flight over a cuckoo’s nest by Milos Forman (1975), died at the age of 88, US media reported on Friday.
Louise Fletcher, who had two sons, died at her home in Montdurausse in the south of France, according to her agent David Shaul, quoted by the New York Times and the Associated Press.
Her most notable role as Nurse Mildred Ratched in Flight over a cuckoo’s nestwhose main character was played by Jack Nicholson, also earned her the Golden Globe and the Bafta for best actress.
When she accepted the role of this tyrannical nurse, at more than 40 years old, she did not know that leading actresses, including Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn and Angela Lansbury, had turned down the role. “I was the last person to pass the casting”she confided in a 2004 interview. “It wasn’t until halfway through filming that I realized the role had been offered to other actresses who didn’t want to appear so awful on screen. »
“Looks like you all hated me”
Adapted from a novel by Ken Kesey, Flight over a cuckoo’s nest became the first film since New York-Miami (1934) by Frank Capra to win the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay.
“Looks like you all hated me”she said. receiving the Oscar for best actress in 1976. She then used sign language to thank her parents, both deaf: “To my mom and dad, I want to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dream come true. »
The actress went on to star in films like The Player by Robert Altman or The Exorcist 2. But Louise Fletcher was also a figure of American television, turning in series like The Incorruptibles Where Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her roles in television series Picket Fences (1996) and Joan of Arcadia (2004).