Louise Fletcher, the actress known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, died of natural causes at her home on Friday, September 23, 2022. She was 88 years old.

Fletcher played the cruel Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a heartless character who humiliates patients and takes their few privileges when provoked. The character is so nasty that she’s considered one of the greatest movie villains of all time and Fletcher won an Academy Award for her excellent work in the movie.

She was born on July 22, 1934, in Birmingham, Alabama and attended the University of North Carolina. A trip to Los Angeles turned into a move, where Fletcher got a job as a receptionist and took acting classes at night. She had TV roles in 77 Sunset Strip, Wagon Train, and Perry Mason, then had her big screen debut in A Gathering of Eagles.

After a ten-year break from acting, she returned in Thieves Like Us, played a psychiatrist in Exorcist II: The Heretic, and was in the star-studded The Cheap Detective. She was in The Lady in Red, Brainstorm, Firestarter, Invaders from Mars, and Flowers in the Attic.

Fletcher was in Blue Steel, played religious leader Kai Winn Adami on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was in Virtuosity, High School High, Mulholland Falls, guest starred on Picket Fences (and was nominated for an Emmy), and she was in Cruel Intentions.

In the later years of her career, Fletcher did a guest spot on Joan of Arcadia (earning another Emmy nomination), had guest spots on ER and Heroes, played a meth dealer on Shameless, was in A Perfect Man, and did a few episodes of Girlboss.