One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
On the new Netflix seriesRatched , Sarah Paulson takes on the role of Nurse Ratched , but she ’s not the only actress to spiel the part . The character was first introduced in Ken Kesey ’s 1962 novel , One Flew Over the Cuckoo ’s Nest . The book was adapt into a Broadway caper in 1963 , and became a major motion picture in 1975 . Ryan Murphy and Evan Romansky create the Netflix series , which is a prequel to the events of the motion-picture show , focalise on the WWII nurse ’s early 24-hour interval at a Northern California psychiatric hospital .
The events of Kesey ’s novel take place at an Oregon psychiatric infirmary . The time Kesey spent working at the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital and as a test matter for experiments involving LSD and other hallucinogenics served as his intake . The narrative centers around the antagonistic relationship around a rebellious patient , Randle Patrick McMurphy , and Nurse Ratched ( also hump as " Big Nurse " ) , who oversee the Montgomery Ward with an iron clenched fist . McMurphy is a inmate who fake insanity to process out his sentence at the hospital instead of a body of work farm . McMurphy enrol other patients in his movement to undermine Nurse Ratched , with tragic consequence .
In a 2001 audience with theNew York Times , Kesey said Nurse Ratched was found on the head nurse of the psychiatric hospital ward where he shape . Paulson , who also assist as an executive producer ( the multi - facetedPaulson also organize an episode ofAmerican Horror Story ) , is the late actress to harness the role of the iconic scoundrel . Several other actresses have portrayed her in leg productions , on the boastful screen , and on a long - running television series .
Louise Fletcher
In 1975 , Milos Foreman ( Amadeus , The People vs. Larry Flynt ) manoeuver the movie adaptation of Kesey ’s script . Jack Nicholson stars as McMurphy and Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched . Anne Bancroft , Geraldine Page , and Angela Lansbury all call on down the role before Foreman drift Fletcher , who lobbied almost a twelvemonth for the theatrical role . In a 1997 interview , Foreman called Nurse Ratched an " instrument of wickedness . “In an audience withVanity Fair , Fletcher suppose of her grapheme , " They ’re in this ward , she ’s looking out for them , and they have to move like they ’re well-chosen to get this medication or heed to this medicine . And make her feel serious about the way she is . “In the book of account , Ratched does n’t have a first name , and it ’s Fletcher who came up with Mildred .
Amid all the shouting and screaming , Fletcher ’s Ratched manages to be an impose presence despite rarely raising her voice . She ’s cold , unyielding , disapproving , and when challenge , her vengeance is swift . She knows McMurphy is n’t demented , but she uses her considerable influence to check that he remains attached . Ratched is less interested in renewal than revenge , using the patients ' weaknesses against them when it befit her . A reviewer forTHRstated , " Fletcher gives a human dimension to this insensate creature that create the enactment scarily veridical and genuine . "
Joan Tetzel
The stage adjustment ofOne Flew Over the Cuckoo ’s Nestmade its Broadway unveiling on November 13 , 1963 . Actor Kirk Douglas ( Spartacus ) dally McMurphy , and Joan Tetzel star as Nurse Ratched . The gambling was look at a flop , closing just over two month after it premier . Douglas retained the stage rights , and spent years trying to secure funding for a photographic film version . He eventually give over the rights to his boy , doer Michael Douglas ( Wall Street ) , who produced the moving-picture show .
Tetzel began her life history on radio . In 1947 she appear in the Alfred Hitchcock film , The Paradine Case , alongside Gregory Peck , Ann Todd , and Charles Laughton . Her other films includeDuel in the Sun , Hell Below Zero , andThe File on Thelma Jordan . Tetzel was an completed stage actress . Before playing Nurse Ratched , Tetzel ’s Broadway credit included the original production ofI RememberMama , The Winner , Red Gloves , unusual Bedfellows , Peepshow , andHarriet , among many others . Her picture look on the cover ofLife Magazinein February 1948 . During the former ' 70s , Tetzel appear on the London stage , and had a repeat role on the TV show , Policewoman .
Amy Morton
In 2001 , the Steppenwolf Theatre Company staged a revival ofOne Flew Over the Cuckoo ’s Nest . Gary Sinise ( Forrest Gump ) recreate McMurphy , and Amy Morton made her Broadway debut as Nurse Ratched . UPIgave the overall production a rave review , but skewered Morton ’s execution . " Morton , a marvelous and not unattractive light-haired , is every bit as asexual in the role but is unable to give it much attribute . She take on it too unflappably , without any visible chemical reaction to the threat to her authority represent by McMurphy . “The output come through the 2001 Tony Award for Best Revival of a dramatic play , and Sinise was nominated for Best Actor in a fun .
Morton received two Tony nomination for her work inAugust : Osage River Countyin 2008 and Who’sAfraid of Virginia Woolfin 20013 . Her film credits includeUp in the Air,8 mm , andFalling Down . Her television appearances includeHomeland , Private Practice , ER , Blue Bloods , andGirls . She currently star inChicago P.D.as Trudy Platt .
Ingrid Torrance
Ingrid Torrance depict Nurse Ratched ( also experience as Severe Nurse ) on ABC’sOnce Upon a Time . The fiber makes her debut on time of year 1 , sequence 12 , " cutis Deep . " Her comprehension among the multitude of darling fag fib character serves no purpose other than she oversees the townspeople ’s sanctuary . Torrance ’s Nurse Ratched is a diluted interpretation of Fletcher ’s , and this small - screen door sexual perversion of Fletcher ’s heartless authoritarian is nothing more than a scratchy babysitter . Torrance has worked steady in telecasting with roles onThe Killing , Supernatural , The Tomorrow People , andThe Good Wife .
Sarah Paulson
Sarah Paulson has played multiple characters onAmerican Horror Story , andRatchedfeels like another installment of the democratic revulsion franchise . The origin storey borrows from the source material in name only , which stir the question of why Murphy set his quite a little on the famed villain at all . Murphy toldVanity Fair :
“ I find like Nurse Ratched is sort of a tachygraphy for barbarity . She became almost like a catchphrase for any sort of institutional ill-usage of power . What was interesting was prove to create an worked up character from a reputation that ’s very cold … try on to figure out every little detail about her childhood , her relationships , her sexuality . Because when people mean of Ratched , they imagine of her as shutoff and vicious and uncaring . ”
Kesey ’s purpose with Nurse Ratched was to show how even the smallest minute of index can corrupt a person . Some may deal her to be a monster in a hyperbolic sense , but Paulson is the substantial affair . Fletcher , whose unpretentious carrying into action iconized the type , never see Ratched as " pathological . “In a late interview withHuffPost , Fletcher submit , " All I can say is , every exclusive day we were on that band , Miloš Forman emphasize lifelike behavior . He did n’t want mental illness to be part of the baddie . "
This contrary interpreting does n’t intend it is n’t potential to enjoy Paulson ’s performance as a sinister and manipulative angel of mercy . Like all ofRyan Murphy ’s projection , the esthetic is highly - stylized ; one word to describeRatchedis sumptuous . It ’s a feast for the eye : from the bright crimson lip rouge that all the nurses wear to the breathtaking vistas to Nurse Ratched ’s spot of employ . It ’s more reminiscent of theOverlook Hotelin its flush than a mental hospital . It also hold in the copious amount of sex and gore that are Murphy trademarks . Sadly , it is n’t an rootage report becauseRatched ’s splashy , glamorized version of the character strays so far from the counterculture novel and Foreman ’s bleak drama . It ’s impossible to get in touch the back breaker .
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