FOG BLOG ENTERTAINMENT LOG: ACTRESS LOUISE FLETCHER BEST KNOWN FOR 'CUCKOO'S NEST' DIES AT 88

Oscar-winning 'Cuckoo's Nest' actor Louise Fletcher dead at 88

Riveting performance as cruel, calculating nurse won Fletcher an Academy Award Louise Fletcher, an actor whose riveting performance as the cruel and calculating Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest set a new standard for screen villains and won her an Academy Award, has died at the age of 88.

Fletcher died in her sleep surrounded by family at her home in Montdurausse, France, her agent, David Shaul, told The Associated Press on Friday. No cause was given.

After putting her career on hold for years to raise her children, Fletcher was in her early 40s and little known when chosen for the role opposite Jack Nicholson in the 1975 film by director Milos Forman, who had admired her work the year before in director Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us. At the time, she didn't know that many other prominent stars, including Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn and Angela Lansbury, had turned down the part.

"I was the last person cast," she recalled in a 2004 interview. "It wasn't until we were halfway through shooting that I realized the part had been offered to other actresses who didn't want to appear so horrible on the screen."

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 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.

Clutching her Oscar at the 1976 ceremony, Fletcher told the audience, "It looks as though you all hated me."