Jul 22, 1934

Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Louise returned to film, after taking time off to start a family, in Robert Altman's <i>Thieves Like Us</i> (1974), and came to the attention of director Milos Forman, who was casting the difficult role of the nurse in <i>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestM</i> (1975). She won the role -- and then the Academy Award -- portraying deadly, inflexible Nurse Ratched, who has since become a cultural icon. Numerous film roles followed, including co-starring turns with Peter Falk in <i>The Cheap Detective<...</i> ... (read more...) /i> (1978) and with Richard Burton in <i>Exorcist II: The Heretic</i> (1977). Fletcher has appeared in a number of science fiction and horror classics such as <i>Firestarter</i> (1984), <i>Brainstorm</i> (1983), <i>and Flowers in the Attic</i> (1987). Though she earned an Emmy Award nomination for her recurring role on "Picket Fences" (1992), Fletcher is perhaps best known to recent television audiences as Kai Winn from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) and as Nora Bloom from the cult classic "VR.5" (1995).