Nurse Ratched (full name Mildred Ratched in the movie, also known as "Big Nurse") is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

and the main

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, ri ...

of ''

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest may refer to: * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Ken Kesey * ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (play), a 1963 stage adaptation of the novel starring Kirk Douglas * ''One Flew Over the ...

'', first featured in

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...

's 1962 novel as well as the 1975 film adaptation. A cold, heartless tyrant, Nurse Ratched has become the stereotype of the nurse as a battleaxe. She has also become a popular

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

for the corrupting influence of institutional power and authority in bureaucracies such as the psychiatric treatment center in which the novel is set. Nurse Ratched is the head administrative nurse at the Salem State Hospital, a mental institution where she exercises near-absolute power over the patients' access to

medication A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

s, privileges, and basic necessities such as food and toiletries. She capriciously revokes these privileges whenever a patient displeases her. Her superiors turn a blind eye because she maintains order, keeping the patients from acting out, either through

antipsychotic Antipsychotics, also known as neuroleptics, are a class of psychotropic medication primarily used to manage psychosis (including delusions, hallucinations, paranoia or disordered thought), principally in schizophrenia but also in a range of ...

and

anticonvulsant Anticonvulsants (also known as antiepileptic drugs or recently as antiseizure drugs) are a diverse group of pharmacological agents used in the treatment of epileptic seizures. Anticonvulsants are also increasingly being used in the treatment of ...

drugs or her own brand of

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

, which consists mostly of humiliating patients into doing her bidding. Her tyrannical rule and her cruel personality stems from her time as an army nurse during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Creation

Origin

Author Kesey stated that he based Ratched on the head nurse of the psychiatric ward where he worked. He later ran into her at an aquarium, realizing "She was much smaller than I remembered, and a whole lot more human." The 1940s hairstyle was, according to Louise Fletcher, "a symbol that life had stopped for her (Ratched) a long time ago".

Appearance

In Ken Kesey's novel, Ratched "the Big Nurse" is described by Chief Bromden according to him: ''She had a face that is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel which is a blend of white and cream, with baby-blue eyes, and a small nose with pink little nostrils. The only features that does not match Ratched's perfect appearance are her lips and fingernails that are both an "odd" or "funny" red-orange, like the tip of a soldering iron, a color that looks so hot or so cold that if she touches someone with it, no one could tell which.'' She is also most noted for carrying breasts that are described as either "massive" or "oversized" which she seems bitter about her great endowment; Ratched's uniform is a white, heavily starched, nurse attire that she uses to conceal her top-heavy bosom as best as she can for the purpose of hiding her femininity just like how she wears her hair in a tight bun so her beauty can be overlooked, also wearing high heels and walking stiffly everywhere she goes, and sometimes carries a woven wicker bag that contains pills, needles, wire, and forceps. To everyone else, she is a dull-looking but handsome middle-aged woman who was beautiful during her prime but is mainly an intimidating nurse who comes off as a twisted maternal figure to her patients. Milos Forman's depiction who is played by Louise Fletcher's however is based on the stage-play performances of the character in Broadway, New York; simply because there are no well-known or talented actresses who looks the way the original Nurse Ratched does in the canon story of the 1962 book.

Character biography

When

Randle McMurphy Randle Patrick "Mac" McMurphy (also known as R.P. McMurphy) is the protagonist of Ken Kesey's novel ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1962). He appears in the stage and film adaptations of the novel as well. Jack Nicholson portrayed Randle Patr ...

arrives at the hospital, however, he flouts her rules with impunity and inspires other patients to follow. Her attempts to cow him into submission—at first with threats and mild punishments, then with shock therapy—are unsuccessful, serving only to fuel his defiance. McMurphy helps organize an unauthorized party late one evening, and they invite two prostitute friends, Sandra and Candy, into the asylum. After noticing fellow patient Billy Bibbitt has a crush on Candy, McMurphy encourages her to have sex with him. Ratched catches Billy and Candy in the act. Furious, she threatens to tell his mother. He begs her not to, blaming McMurphy and the other patients for orchestrating the event. Ratched sends him to wait in the ward doctor's office as the authorities are called. When Dr. Spivey finally arrives, he finds Billy has killed himself. When Ratched tells the inmates that "the best thing we can do is to go on with our daily routine", McMurphy attacks her in a fit of rage, nearly strangling her. Despite having McMurphy lobotomized in retribution, the attack leaves Ratched weakened and bruised, now unable to control the ward any longer because the patients no longer fear her.

Other portrayals

A stage adaptation by

Dale Wasserman Dale Wasserman (November 2, 1914 – December 21, 2008) was an American playwright, perhaps best known for his book for Man of La Mancha. Early life Dale Wasserman was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, the child of Russian immigrants Samuel ...

made its Broadway debut in 1963 with Joan Tetzel as Nurse Ratched.

Amy Morton Amy Morton (born April 3, 1959) is an American actress and director, best known for her work in theatre. Morton was nominated two times for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performances in '' August: Osage County'' and ''Who's Afra ...

portrayed Ratched in the 2001 Broadway revival. The character was famously portrayed by Louise Fletcher in the film adaptation, whose performance earned her the

Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year ...

. Fletcher, who, up to that point, had only had a brief television career in the 1950s and early 1960s and had only appeared in two films (one uncredited), was cast after Anne Bancroft,

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

Geraldine Page Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Acad ...

Colleen Dewhurst Colleen Rose Dewhurst (3 June 1924 – 22 August 1991) was a Canadian-American actress mostly known for theatre roles. She was a renowned interpreter of the works of Eugene O'Neill on the stage, and her career also encompassed film, early drama ...

, and

Ellen Burstyn Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complicated women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Em ...

turned down the role. Director

Miloš Forman Jan Tomáš "Miloš" Forman (; ; 18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the United States in 1968. Forman ...

considered Fletcher for Ratched when he saw her in the 1974 film '' Thieves Like Us''. Nurse Ratched was a recurring character in the ABC series '' Once Upon a Time'' from 2012 through 2017. She was portrayed by

Ingrid Torrance Ingrid Torrance (born 1969 in British Columbia) is a Canadian actor best known for her role as a spokesperson on ''NBCi.com''. She is a Canadian actor, acting instructor and author. She has been a television and movie actor since 1994, an acting ...

and works for the Evil Queen as a nurse in the Storybrooke Sanitarium. Sarah Paulson portrays Nurse Ratched in Ryan Murphy's

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

television series '' Ratched'', a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

to the ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' film, the first season of which debuted September 18, 2020. Isabelle JoLynn Murphy portrays a young Ratched.

Legacy

Fletcher won the

for her portrayal of Ratched in the film. Ratched was named the fifth-greatest villain in film history (and second-greatest villainess, behind the

Wicked Witch of the West The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent ''Oz'' novels, it is the Nome King who is ...

of '' The Wizard of Oz'') by the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

in their series 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains.