Nurse Ratched

Nurse Ratched
Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
First appearance	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (novel)
Last appearance	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
Created by	Ken Kesey
Portrayed by	Louise Fletcher
Information
Nickname(s)	Big Nurse
Occupation	Nurse
Nationality	American

Nurse Ratched (also known as "Big Nurse") is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, as well as the 1975 film. A cold, heartless tyrant, Nurse Ratched has become the stereotype of the nurse as a battleaxe. She has also become a popular metaphor for the corrupting influence of power and authority in bureaucracies such as the mental institution in which the novel is set.

Louise Fletcher won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Nurse Ratched in the film. The hairstyle for Nurse Ratched was created by Carrie White. Louise Fletcher has said that the hairstyle was "a symbol that life had stopped for her (Ratched) a long time ago". Nurse Ratched was named the fifth-greatest villain in film history (and second-greatest villainess, behind only the Wicked Witch of the West) by the American Film Institute in their series 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains.

The role was turned down by Anne Bancroft, Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Page, Colleen Dewhurst, and Ellen Burstyn before Fletcher received it. Fletcher had only acted once in the 13 years before appearing in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. She was thought of for the role after Shelley Duvall was suggested for an alternative role and Milos Forman saw Fletcher appear with her in Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us.