Louise Fletcher, who earned an Oscar for her performance as Nurse Ratched in 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and presented society with a picture of administrative evil so captivating that the character’s last name could hold a TV series 45 years down the line, died Friday at her home in Montdurausse, France. She was 88 years old at the time.

Also read: 5 iconic Louise Fletcher film and TV roles

Fletcher was the third woman to receive an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award for a single performance. Her efficiency was so memorable that, in 2020, the Ryan Murphy-Evan Romansky Netflix series Ratched — a sort of prequel to the book and film featuring Sarah Paulson — only required the single-word title to evoke the feeling of tension and viciousness imparted by Fletcher decades earlier.

Who is Sarah Paulson?

Sarah Catharine Paulson, born on December 17, 1974, is an actor from the United States. Paulson was born in Tampa, Florida, to Catharine Gordon (née Dolcater) and Douglas Lyle Paulson II. She grew up in South Tampa until her parents divorced when she was five years old. After her parents divorced, she moved to Maine with her mother and sister, then to New York City.

Also read: Who was Louise Fletcher?

Paulson grew up in Queens and Gramercy Park before settling in Park Slope with her mother, who worked as a waitress. “My mom was 27 years old [when we moved]. She didn’t know a single person in New York City. She got a job at Sardi’s Restaurant,” she recalled of the time. 

“She was so brave to be basically a debutante in Tampa, Florida, having a cotillion and a coming out ball – and she picked up and brought her two kids to the greatest city in the world, not knowing anyone. My mom’s kind of my hero that way,” she added.

Paulson spent her summer vacations in Florida with her father, who was an executive at a Tampa door production plant. She went to P.S. 29 and Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn before going to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan.

Paulson currently resides in Los Angeles. She is a Democratic Party supporter. When she was 25, she was diagnosed with melanoma on her back, but the tumour was removed before it spread.

Also read: Louise Fletcher death: Age, family, and net worth

When asked about her sexuality, Paulson described it as “a fluid situation,” adding, “If my life choices had to be predicated on what was expected of me from a community on either side, that’s going to make me feel really straitjacketed, and I don’t want to feel that.”

From 2004 to 2009, she dated actor Cherry Jones, who is 18 years her senior. Prior to this relationship, she had only dated men, as well as her former fiancé, playwright Tracy Letts. She has been involved in a relationship with actor Holland Taylor, who is 32 years her senior, since early 2015.

She started her acting career in New York City stage productions before appearing in the short-lived television series American Gothic (1995-1996) and Jack & Jill (1999–2001).

Later in her career, she appeared in comedies such as What Women Want (2000) and Down with Love (2003), as well as dramas such as Path to War (2002) and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). She played the lead as Harriet Hayes in the NBC comedy-drama series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip from 2006 to 2007, for which she gained her first Golden Globe Award nomination. She played Ellen Dolan in the superhero noir film The Spirit in 2008.

Also read: Oscar-winning actor Louise Fletcher dies at 88

Paulson’s Broadway credits include The Glass Menagerie in 2005 and Collected Stories in 2010. She has also appeared in several independent films and had a starring role in the ABC comedy series Cupid (2009).

She later appeared in the independent drama film Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her role as Nicolle Wallace in the HBO film Game Change (2012).

She played Mary Epps in the 2013 historical epic film 12 Years a Slave, Abby Gerhard in the 2015 romantic drama film Carol, and Toni Bradlee in the 2017 political drama film The Post, all of which received Academy Award nominations.

In 2011, Paulson began starring in the FX anthology series American Horror Story, playing different characters in many of the show’s 10 seasons. For her performances in the series, she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Critics’ Choice Television Awards.

In 2016, she portrayed real-life prosecutor Marcia Clark in the first season of the anthology series American Crime Story, subtitled The People v. O. J. Simpson, for which she garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including the Primetime Emmy Award and the Golden Globe Award.

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In 2020, Paulson appeared in the FX limited series Mrs. America, and began starring as Nurse Mildred Ratched in the Netflix psychological thriller series Ratched.

In 2021, she returned to American Crime Story to portray Linda Tripp in the third season of the show, subtitled Impeachment. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2017, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.