Early life

Fletcher was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the second of four children to Estelle Caldwell and the Reverend Robert Capers Fletcher, an Episcopal missionary from Arab, Alabama. Both of her parents were deaf and worked with the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Fletcher's father founded more than 40 churches for the deaf in Alabama. Fletcher and her siblings, Roberta, John and Georgianna, were all born without any hearing loss; she was taught to speak by a hearing aunt, who also introduced her to acting. After attending the University of North Carolina, she traveled to Los Angeles, California, where she found work as a secretary by day and received acting lessons by night.

Career

Fletcher began appearing in several television series, including Lawman in 1958 and Maverick in 1959. (The Maverick episode, "The Saga of Waco Williams", was the series' highest-rated episode.) Also in 1959, she appeared in the second episode of the original Untouchables TV series (starring Robert Stack), "Ma Barker and Her Boys" as Elouise. In 1960 Fletcher made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, both times as the defendant: Gladys Doyle in "The Case of the Mythical Monkeys," and Susan Connolly in "The Case of the Larcenous Lady." In the summer of 1960, she was cast as Roberta McConnell in the episode "The Bounty Hunter" of the NBC western television series, Tate, starring David McLean.

In 1974, she returned to film in Thieves Like Us, co-produced by her husband and Robert Altman, who also directed. When the two had a falling out on Altman's next project, (Nashville (1975)), Altman decided to cast Lily Tomlin for the role of Linnea Reese, initially created for and by Fletcher. Meanwhile, director Miloš Forman saw Fletcher in Thieves and consequently cast her as McMurphy's nemesis Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Fletcher gained international recognition and fame for the role, winning Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as a BAFTA Award and Golden Globe. When Fletcher accepted her Oscar, she used sign language to thank her parents.

After Cuckoo's Nest, Fletcher had mixed success in film. She made several financially and critically successful films, while others were box office failures. Fletcher's film roles were in such features as Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Cheap Detective (1978), The Lady in Red (1979), The Magician of Lublin (1979), Brainstorm (1983), Firestarter (1984), Invaders From Mars (1986), Flowers in the Attic (1987), Two Moon Junction (1988), Best of the Best (1989), Blue Steel (1990), Virtuosity (1995), High School High (1996), and Cruel Intentions (1999, as Sebastian's aunt). Additionally, she played the character Ruth Shorter, a supporting role, in the 2005 film Aurora Borealis alongside Joshua Jackson and Donald Sutherland, and appeared in the Fox Faith film The Last Sin Eater (2007).

Fletcher co-starred in such made-for-TV movies as The Karen Carpenter Story (1989) (as Karen and Richard Carpenter's mother, Agnes), Nightmare on the 13th Floor (1990), The Haunting of Seacliff Inn (1994), and The Stepford Husbands (1996). From 1993 to 1999, she held a recurring role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the scheming Bajoran religious leader Kai Winn Adami. She also earned Emmy Award nominations for her guest roles on the Tom Skerritt's CBS television series, Picket Fences (1996), and later on Joan of Arcadia (2004). In 2009, Fletcher appeared in the NBC series Heroes as the physician mother of character Emma Coolidge. In 2011, she appeared in the Showtime series Shameless as Grammy Gallagher, Frank Gallagher's foul-mouthed and hard-living mother who is serving a prison sentence for manslaughter related to a meth lab explosion.

Personal life

Fletcher married literary agent and producer Jerry Bick in 1960, divorcing in 1977. The couple had two sons, John Dashiell Bick and Andrew Wilson Bick. Fletcher took an 11-year hiatus from acting to raise her sons.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	A Gathering of Eagles	Mrs. Kemler	Uncredited
1974	Thieves Like Us	Mattie
1975	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	Nurse Ratched	Academy Award for Best Actress BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
1975	Russian Roulette	Midge
1977	Exorcist II: The Heretic	Dr. Gene Tuskin
1978	The Cheap Detective	Marlene DuChard
1979	Natural Enemies	Miriam Steward
1979	The Magician of Lublin	Emilia
1979	The Lady in Red	Anna Sage
1980	Mama Dracula	Mama Dracula
1980	The Lucky Star	Loes Bakker
1981	Strange Behavior	Barbara Moorehead
1983	Brainstorm	Dr. Lillian Reynolds	Saturn Award for Best Actress
1983	Strange Invaders	Mrs. Benjamin
1983	Overnight Sensation	Eve Peregrine - 'E. K. Hamilton'
1984	Firestarter	Norma Manders
1984	Talk to Me	Mrs. Patterson
1986	Nobody's Fool	Pearl
1986	The Boy Who Could Fly	Psychiatrist
1986	Invaders from Mars	Mrs. McKeltch	Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress
1987	Flowers in the Attic	Olivia Foxworth	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1987	Grizzly II: The Predator	Park Supervisor
1988	Two Moon Junction	Belle Delongpre
1989	Best of the Best	Mrs. Grady
1989	The Karen Carpenter Story	Agnes Carpenter
1990	Blue Steel	Shirley Turner
1990	Shadowzone	Dr. Erhardt
1991	In A Child's Name	Jean Taylor
1994	Giorgino	Innkeeper
1994	Tryst	Maggie
1994	Tollbooth	Lillian
1994	Someone Else's Child	Faye
1995	Return to Two Moon Junction	Belle Delongpre
1995	Virtuosity	Elizabeth Deane
1996	The Stepford Husbands	Miriam Benton
1996	Edie & Pen	Judge
1996	Mulholland Falls	Esther	Uncredited
1996	Frankenstein and Me	Mrs. Perdue
1996	High School High	Principal Evelyn Doyle
1996	2 Days in the Valley	Evelyn
1997	Breast Men	Mrs. Saunders	Television movie Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1997	The Girl Gets Moe	Gloria
1997	Gone Fishin'	Restaurant Owner	Uncredited
1998	Love Kills	Alena Heiss
1999	A Map of the World	Nellie Goodwin
1999	Cruel Intentions	Helen Rosemond
1999	The Devil's Arithmetic	Aunt Eva
1999	The Contract	Grandma Collins
2000	More Dogs Than Bones	Iva Doll
2000	Very Mean Men	Katherine Mulroney
2000	Big Eden	Grace Cornwell
2000	Silver Man	Val
2001	After Image	Aunt Cora
2001	Touched by a Killer	Judge Erica Robertson
2001	Dial 9 for Love	Abbie
2002	Manna from Heaven	Mother Superior
2003	Finding Home	Esther
2004	Clipping Adam	Grammy
2005	Aurora Borealis	Ruth Shorter
2005	Dancing in Twilight	Evelyn
2006	Fat Rose and Squeaky	Bonnie
2006	Me and Luke	Grandmother Glennie
2007	A Dennis the Menace Christmas	Martha Wilson
2007	The Last Sin Eater	Miz Elda
2011	Cassadaga	Claire
2013	A Perfect Man	Abbie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	Playhouse 90	Pete's Girl	Episode: "Seven Against the Wall"
1958	Bat Masterson	Sarah Lou Conant	Episode: "Cheyenne Club"
1959	Maverick	Kathy Bent	Episode: "The Saga of Waco Williams"
1960	Perry Mason	Gladys Doyle	Episode: "The Case of the Mythical Monkeys"
1961	The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp	Aithra McLowery	Episode: "The Law Must Be Fair"
1990	In the Heat of the Night	Catherine Tyler	Episode: "December Days"
1991	Tales from the Crypt	Agent	Episode: "Top Billing"
1993-1999	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Winn Adami	14 episodes
1995-1997	VR.5	Mrs. Nora Bloom	6 episodes
1996	Picket Fences	Christine Bey	2 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
1998	The Practice	Judge N. Swanson	Episode: "Rhyme and Reason"
2004	Joan of Arcadia	Eva Garrison	Episode: "Do the Math" Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
2005	7th Heaven	Mrs. Wagner	Episode: "Honor Thy Mother"
2005	ER	Roberta 'Birdie' Chadwick	3 episodes
2009	Heroes	Doctor Coolidge	2 episodes
2010-2011	Private Practice	Frances Wilder	2 episodes
2011-2012	Shameless	Peggy Gallagher	4 episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]