Oscar winner Louise Fletcher has died at her home in Montdurausse, France. She was 88 and reportedly passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family.
Fletcher won her award for her role as the sadistic Nurse Ratched in Milos Forman’s 1975 feature “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” creating one of the screen’s most iconic villains in the form of her bureaucratic cruel authority figure.
Over twenty years later, she became known to a whole new generation on television with her recurring key role as the self-serving Bajoran religious leader Kai Winn on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” in the late 1990s.
Fletcher’s career that spanned more than sixty years and saw her land Emmy nominations for her work in “Picket Fences” and “Joan of Arcadia”. She began acting with guest spots on shows like “Maverick” and “The Untouchables” in the 1950s along with “Perry Mason” and “Sugarfoot” in the 1960s before stepping into films such as Robert Altman’s “Thieves Like Us”.
After the success of ‘Cuckoo’ she did several flops including “Exorcist II: The Heretic,” “Brainstorm,” and “Blue Steel”.
In 1993, her career was revived with her “Star Trek” role which led to films like “Cruel Intentions” and roles on shows ranging from “7th Heaven” to “Private Practice” and “Shameless”.
She is survived by sons John and Andrew Bick, granddaughter Emilee Kaya Bick, sister Roberta Ray and brother-in-law Edward Ray, and 10 nieces and nephews.
Source: Deadline
