Louise Fletcher

**Estelle Louise Fletcher**, born on *July 22, 1934* in Birmingham, Alabama was an accomplished American actress known for her portrayals in film and television. Most notably, she played the role of Nurse Ratched in the film **One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest** (1975), a performance that earned her the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. Not confined to film alone, she also had a recurring role in the television series *Star Trek: Deep Space Nine* from 1993 to 1999 and was nominated for two Emmy Awards for her roles in the TV series **Picket Fences** (1996) and **Joan of Arcadia** (2004). Her final role was as Rosie in the Netflix series **Girlboss** (2017). Fletcher, the second of four children, was born to parents who were deaf and actively worked with the deaf and hard-of-hearing. She battled against industry norms and biases due to her height to carve a successful acting career for herself. Louise started in several television series such as *Lawman* (1958) and *Maverick* (1959) and then returned to film with a role in **Thieves Like Us** (1974), a crime drama co-produced by her then-husband Jerry Bick and Robert Altman. Fletcher's later roles varied in success, with several box-office hits and misses. She continued to act in TV movies and secured recurring roles in popular TV series, displaying a range that extended across various genres, from crime dramas to sci-fi.