Evil across the millennia
September 24, 2022 8:10 PM Subscribe
From Nurse Ratched to Kai Winn, Louise Fletcher always kept a smile on her face while she destroyed your world in ways you hadn't imagined possible. Rest in peace, great actor.
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posted by JoeXIII007 at 8:58 PM on September 24, 2022
posted by JoeXIII007 at 8:58 PM on September 24, 2022
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posted by calamari kid at 8:59 PM on September 24, 2022
posted by calamari kid at 8:59 PM on September 24, 2022
She was great in everything she was in, and I have to imagine she was a nicer person by far than all her famous characters although maybe not someone to piss off if you cared about your self-esteem just based on her tremendous killer instincts. She was an OG villain of my childhood from a young screening of Cuckoo's Nest (my dad's a cinephile and Kesey's a local legend) but my adult experience is mostly of her role as the absolutely unrelently slickly venomous Kai Winn on DS9. That show wasn't particularly Catholic but man if she wasn't a nightmare nun.
posted by cortex at 9:05 PM on September 24, 2022 [18 favorites]
posted by cortex at 9:05 PM on September 24, 2022 [18 favorites]
Kai Winn was such a deranged and evil character played so well. Louise Fletcher must have been extremely empathetic to do it so well.
posted by Uncle at 9:08 PM on September 24, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by Uncle at 9:08 PM on September 24, 2022 [13 favorites]
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posted by JustSayNoDawg at 9:10 PM on September 24, 2022
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 9:10 PM on September 24, 2022
I loved her in Brainstorm and Shameless and plenty of stuff between.
If you had asked, I would have guessed she had at least another twenty years left to bury another whole generation of Hollywood.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 9:21 PM on September 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
If you had asked, I would have guessed she had at least another twenty years left to bury another whole generation of Hollywood.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 9:21 PM on September 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
Louise Fletcher sign language speech for her deaf parents as she accepts her 1976 Oscar.
posted by fairmettle at 9:44 PM on September 24, 2022 [31 favorites]
posted by fairmettle at 9:44 PM on September 24, 2022 [31 favorites]
She was an extraordinary actor, and will be missed.
posted by Chanther at 9:48 PM on September 24, 2022
posted by Chanther at 9:48 PM on September 24, 2022
Walk with the prophets, child.
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posted by Halloween Jack at 10:01 PM on September 24, 2022 [13 favorites]
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posted by Halloween Jack at 10:01 PM on September 24, 2022 [13 favorites]
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posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:27 PM on September 24, 2022
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:27 PM on September 24, 2022
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posted by Dokterrock at 11:46 PM on September 24, 2022
posted by Dokterrock at 11:46 PM on September 24, 2022
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posted by faceplantingcheetah at 12:18 AM on September 25, 2022
posted by faceplantingcheetah at 12:18 AM on September 25, 2022
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posted by Faintdreams at 2:03 AM on September 25, 2022
posted by Faintdreams at 2:03 AM on September 25, 2022
She was fearless in Cuckoo's Nest, taking that character into a place most actors won't go to. Quite literally one of the finest performances in the history of film.
A brilliant actor, and that Oscar speech is immensely moving.
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posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 2:20 AM on September 25, 2022 [4 favorites]
A brilliant actor, and that Oscar speech is immensely moving.
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posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 2:20 AM on September 25, 2022 [4 favorites]
I stopped taking my medicine and was able to free that NYT obituary from the cuckoo's nest
posted by chavenet at 3:09 AM on September 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 3:09 AM on September 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by dannyboybell at 3:44 AM on September 25, 2022
posted by dannyboybell at 3:44 AM on September 25, 2022
I only learned she had died yesterday after I started a re-watch of Big Eden, a 2020 gay romance starring Arye Gross as a big-time New York artist who returns to his small Montana hometown when his grandfather becomes ill. Louise Fletcher plays the warm-hearted busybody who orchestrates a connection between him and a reserved local man, played by a Eric Schweig, a Canadian actor of Inuit/German descent.
One of things I like about this movie is simply seeing Louse Fletcher, but seeing her play warm and caring is especially lovely after my years of Kai Winn fandom.
Big Eden is a cut above most (nearly all) romances where a big-city bigshot finds love in a small town. The characters, from the grandpa to the other town busybodies to the seven guys who hang out in front of the general store doing nothing all day every day, are wonderfully evoked. The writing is good. The acting is good. This movie can actually make my heart ache; yesterday, it made me cry twice.
There are no bad guys, though there are people making mistakes as they try to figure shit out. I love this movie, and I love Louise Fletcher in it. If you are in a mood to celebrate her, and see a different side of her, it's free on Amazon Prime Video in the US at the moment.
posted by Well I never at 4:00 AM on September 25, 2022 [11 favorites]
One of things I like about this movie is simply seeing Louse Fletcher, but seeing her play warm and caring is especially lovely after my years of Kai Winn fandom.
Big Eden is a cut above most (nearly all) romances where a big-city bigshot finds love in a small town. The characters, from the grandpa to the other town busybodies to the seven guys who hang out in front of the general store doing nothing all day every day, are wonderfully evoked. The writing is good. The acting is good. This movie can actually make my heart ache; yesterday, it made me cry twice.
There are no bad guys, though there are people making mistakes as they try to figure shit out. I love this movie, and I love Louise Fletcher in it. If you are in a mood to celebrate her, and see a different side of her, it's free on Amazon Prime Video in the US at the moment.
posted by Well I never at 4:00 AM on September 25, 2022 [11 favorites]
I saw her role as Nurse Ratched maaaany years after my introduction to her in my childhood of watching her role in Flowers in the Attic, but never knew about the Star Trek role.
All I'm gonna say is that while she was far more frightening in Flowers (which both her role, and the film itself, I feel are grossly underrated), I wish she'd have been given more prominent roles that would have shown so much more depth than she was previously allowed / assigned.
posted by revmitcz at 4:30 AM on September 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
All I'm gonna say is that while she was far more frightening in Flowers (which both her role, and the film itself, I feel are grossly underrated), I wish she'd have been given more prominent roles that would have shown so much more depth than she was previously allowed / assigned.
posted by revmitcz at 4:30 AM on September 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
I have only seen her in her role as Kai Winn, in which she is incredible. Now I read about all the awesome things she has done (I really should watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest but where to find the time?) and I realise I am at that point in my life when not only all my heroes pass away, but the passing away of so many others shows how my personal lived experience has barely managed to scratch the surface of life.
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posted by fregoli at 6:57 AM on September 25, 2022
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posted by fregoli at 6:57 AM on September 25, 2022
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Kai Winn was such a presence when she appeared that I was shocked to read she was only in 14 episodes. If you'd asked me to guess I would have said she showed up every two or three episodes!
posted by mark k at 7:21 AM on September 25, 2022 [10 favorites]
Kai Winn was such a presence when she appeared that I was shocked to read she was only in 14 episodes. If you'd asked me to guess I would have said she showed up every two or three episodes!
posted by mark k at 7:21 AM on September 25, 2022 [10 favorites]
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posted by jim in austin at 7:44 AM on September 25, 2022
posted by jim in austin at 7:44 AM on September 25, 2022
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posted by zengargoyle at 9:58 AM on September 25, 2022
posted by zengargoyle at 9:58 AM on September 25, 2022
Like Mark K, I was shocked that Kai Winn appeared in so few episodes. I would have guessed 30 or more, she was such a presence.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:16 AM on September 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:16 AM on September 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
It always felt like if I saw she was going to be in something, I knew that there would be at least one good performance there. Like Well I never mentioned, the role I'll always treasure is her performance in Big Eden, a movie I adore. She's just so warm but also sharp and tough, in the best Louise Fletcher tradition. There's a scene where she's trying to get Arye Gross's character to stay in town, and it makes me cry every time, she's just so good. She scared the crap out of me when I saw Cuckoo's Nest as a kid, but now I just think of her in Big Eden, and that's a role that's so much better to remember someone by.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:33 AM on September 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:33 AM on September 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
I wonder if Ratched was a it of a curse, and wonder if she lived up to her potential.
posted by PinkMoose at 11:46 AM on September 25, 2022
posted by PinkMoose at 11:46 AM on September 25, 2022
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posted by pelvicsorcery at 12:12 PM on September 25, 2022
posted by pelvicsorcery at 12:12 PM on September 25, 2022
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posted by HiddenInput at 12:51 PM on September 25, 2022
posted by HiddenInput at 12:51 PM on September 25, 2022
Fantastic actor. (I feel a little bad about some of the writing she was given in DS9. She somehow still pulled it off.)
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posted by eotvos at 6:41 PM on September 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by eotvos at 6:41 PM on September 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 1:29 AM on September 26, 2022
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 1:29 AM on September 26, 2022
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posted by Gadgetenvy at 7:26 AM on September 26, 2022
posted by Gadgetenvy at 7:26 AM on September 26, 2022
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-Nurse Ratched.
posted by clavdivs at 8:47 PM on September 24, 2022 [6 favorites]