AYA * Louise Fletcher’s rise to become
the best actress was unconventional. It was only after her second legitimate film role
that she won the best actress Oscar. She played a role, a villain, so iconic that after this
role, there was no other role that could top that. Louise Fletcher came from a modest life
to playing a role many people still cannot forget.*
AYA Louise Fletcher grew up in Alabama
to deaf/hard of hearing parents with three other siblings. They were taught to speak
english by their aunt. Louise was influenced by this aunt to pursue acting. And consequently
upon finishing high school, Louise studied acting at the University of North Carolina.
AYA She then moved to Los Angeles and
just like other Oscar Winning Actresses who were starting off in Hollywood, Fletcher would
work as a waitress to make ends meet. Fletcher being 5’10 in stature towered over most
actors and found it difficulty to find any roles other than in Westerns, since the male
actors were taller than her. It was the end of the 50’s and Fletcher found success in
TV shows like Lawman, Untouchables, Maverick and Perry Mason. She only appeared in one
film as an uncredited role in the 1963 film called A Gathering Of Eagles.
AYA Louise Fletcher decided to step
away from acting altogether to focus on family. She got married and had two children with
Jerry Bick a film producer. Fletcher did not return to TV until the 90s.
(MORE) AYA (CONT'D)
But after an 11 year hiatus from show business, Fletcher came back stronger
than ever and found herself starring in 1974’s Thieves Like Us, co-produced by her husband
and Robert Altman, who also directed the film. Fletcher had no intention of returning to
the screen but upon her husbands insistence that she be in his movie, a dare more like,
she made the best decision ever to return. She was afraid that other actors would scorn
her for getting an upper hand due to her being the wife of the producer. This crime film
costarred Shelley Duvall and Fletcher who both actually starred alongside Jack Nicholson
in their most prominent films roles; The Shining and One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest respectively.
Which leads me to Fletcher getting cast as the female lead of Nurse Ratched opposite
Nicholson in the 1975 movie adaptation of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. This was Fletcher’s
next serious film role following Thieves Like Us. After Michael Douglas one of the producers
acquired rights to the book to be adapted, Milos Forman, the director, decided to pursue
Louise Fletcher to star in the film after seeing her in Thieves Like Us. Many other
major actresses like Anne Bancroft passed on this role due to their belief that this
role was anti-feminist. AYA
Lets be honest, nobody could play the role of Mildred Ratched any other way,
that only Fletcher could. The antipathy, acid and sadism Fletcher brought to the screen
was undeniably anger inducing to the audience. One of the most memorable and potent villains
on screen there ever was. Seeing a female villain was a rarity. A female villain is
different than a male one. (MORE)
2. AYA (CONT'D)
It showed that women can be far more cruel and twisted than most could expect.
And that paired with Nicholson’s portrayal of McMurphy, a foil to Ratched, made this
film an instant hit. The rebelliousness of McMurphy could be compared to the 70’s counterculture
which clashed with the power of the puritanical conservative America which Ratched symbolized.
AYA Fletcher said this about her
character, “Life had stopped for her a long time ago. She was so out of touch with her
feelings that she had no joy in her life and no concept of the fact that she could be wrong.
She delivered her care of her insane patients in a killing manner, but she was convinced
she was right.” AYA
By the way, the series on Netflix called Ratched actually introduces the history
of Mildred Ratched and her backstory. Sarah Paulson plays Ratched.
AYA One flew over the cuckoos nest won
the top 5 academy awards at the 1976 oscars. Louise Fletcher billowed up the stage to accept
the best actress Oscar and concluded it with a sign language thank you to her parents.
At this moment Fletcher felt what fame really was. Especially knowing that before her stardom
she was rejected by 15 talent agencies and only now were the offers were rolling in.
AYA After this legendary role, Fletcher
continued acting on film but no role ever came close in terms of success to the monster
she played in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. She said this looking back on her win, “Just
enjoy it; it'll make you wonderfully happy for a night.
(MORE) 3.
AYA (CONT'D) But don't expect that it'll do
anything for your career... Sure, it changes your life enormously in personal ways, but
it was not a guarantee of anything. I'm realistic. I have to be.”
AYA Louise Fletcher starred in films
like the Exorcist 2, Flowers In The Attic, Cruel Intentions and The Last Sin Eater to
name a few. She has not starred in any other movies since 2013. In 1990 Fletcher resurrected
her TV career and starred in shows like Picket Fences, Joan Of Arcadia which both nominated
her for Emmys for Outstanding Guest Actress in Drama. She appeared in shameless too.
AYA * Although working steadily after
her Oscar win, Fletcher’s stardom was fleeting. And she accepted this reality. She said, “Frankly,
how many parts are out there for people like me? I'm not going to be a person who complains
about roles for women; there's a long line of people doing that. I'm working. Even if
I don't think something is so great, I still do it. I'm one of those actresses who have
to work for a living. I don't have huge savings.” Louise Fletcher’s arresting performance
in one of the most powerful film will forever be valued. Talk about a performance of a lifetime.*
4.