Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched.
Doesn’t look like much, does she?
But somehow Fletcher manages to ooze more malevolence than Darth Vader. With a soft smile, she says “I really think we can help him”. No hamming. No chewing the scenery. No special effects. But this line makes your blood run cold and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.
In case you don’t know, Nurse Ratched is a character in Milos Forman’s outstanding 1975 film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This film more or less swept the board at the Oscars. Everyone, even the minor parts, played their hearts out, and the film still sizzles today.
But for me, Louise Fletcher’s subtle, understated, but petrifying performance is what crowns the lot.