7. Louise Fletcher (Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
Nurse Ratched is the head nurse of a mental institution at Salem, Oregon. She is a stereotypical heartless and cold nurse who has an absolute authority over her patients and staff. Ratched completely controls patients’ access to basic necessities, privileges and medication; and revokes these privileges capriciously when patients displease her. Her authority is disrupted when a new patient Randle McMurphy arrives. His defiance eventually causes him to be lobotomized, which is smothered as mercy killing. Ratched’s vocal cords are permanently damaged during a struggle with McMurphy.
