In 1975, Birmingham native Louise Fletcher took on her most iconic film role, the one that made her famous. Fletcher, who died in 2022 at age 88, won the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of the villainous Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

The film, based on a book by Ken Kesey, also won Oscars for best picture, director, adapted screenplay and actor (Jack Nicholson).

Fifty years after the film was released, let’s take a look at some trivia about Fletcher and her most famous role.

1. She attended Birmingham’s Glen Iris Elementary and was in Ramsay High School’s Class of 1952, according to a 1976 column written by a classmate in the Albuquerque Journal. Fletcher was a member of the thespians in high school.

2. In 2003, the American Film Institute named Nurse Ratched the fifth most memorable villain and second female villain in film history after the Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz.” The other top villains were Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates and Darth Vader.

3. She was the third woman to win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award for the same role (Nurse Ratched). The other two women were Audrey Hepburn (for portraying Princess Ann in “Roman Holiday”) and Liza Minnelli (for portraying Sally Bowles in “Cabaret.”)

4. At the 1976 Academy Awards ceremony, Fletcher thanked her parents, Robert and Estelle Fletcher, who were both deaf. In sign language, Fletcher said: “For my mother and my father, I want to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dream come true. Thank you.” Fletcher and her siblings – Roberta, John and Georgianna – were born hearing. Her father was pastor of St. John’s Episcopal Church for the Deaf in Birmingham.

5. In 2022, The New York Times wrote in Fletcher’s obituary that the actor’s height of 5 feet, 10 inches limited her early roles. Fletcher was cast in numerous TV westerns, where she said height was an advantage. She appeared in such shows as “Wagon Train,” “Maverick” and “Bat Masterson.”

6. Fletcher took on another villainous role in 1987 and the evil grandmother in “Flowers in the Attic.” In that role, she portrayed a matriarch who plans to poison her four young grandchildren.

7. After attending the University of North Carolina, Fletcher moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a secretary and took acting classes, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama.

8. She portrayed another controlling mother in 1989’s TV biopic “The Karen Carpenter Story,” according to Britannica.com.

9. She married Jerry Bick, a film producer, in 1959 and they had two sons, John and Andrew, the Encyclopedia of Alabama said.

10. Some other recognizable film roles included the psychiatrist in “Exorcist II: The Heretic” (1977), a workaholic scientist in “Brainstorm” (1983), a farm wife in “Firestarter” (1984) and Ryan Phillip’s aunt in “Cruel Intentions” (1999).