Cast of Cuckoo'ś Nest Flew Off To Do Other Mentally Imbalanced Films
Jack Nicholson Was Not Faking Mental Illness In A Flick After Cuckoo's Nest
Before Jack Nicholson's character flew into and then over the Cuckoo's Nest, the nurse who ran that home had suffered some psychological issues of her own. That story, called Ratched after the nurse played by Louise Fletcher in the 1975 film, begins airing as a Netflix series next month.
Producer Ryan Murphy employs in the starting role Sarah Paulson, an actress with whom he has worked numerous times. She is Mildred Ratched in what is being billed as a prequel to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which was based on the classic novel by Ken Kesey.
His account called attention to oppressive practices by authorities in psychiatric hospitals, one in which Kesey himself had been employed. Through the various patients around main character Randle McMurphy, readers and viewers learn of the humanity hidden by their mental disorders.
Many of the actors who portrayed those patients went on to star as other mentally-imbalanced characters in famous works, further proving the power of that original award-winning movie. Here is a list of the cast members and the off beat characters each would go on to memorialize later, much as Nicholson did as the deranged father and husband who sneered "Here 's Johnny!" in Stephen King's The Shining.
Christopher Lloyd: His acting debut had him cast as patient Max Taber, after which he would become forever known for his kooky character in the sitcom Taxi and the eccentric inventor in Back To the Future.
Danny Devito: Speaking of Taxi, the star of that show previously was seen in Cuckoo's Nest as a patient named Martini.
Bradford Claude Dourif: He plays the meek character of Billy Biffet, and he went on to become the voice of the disturbed Chucky in the Child's Play movies.
Sydney Lassick: Portraying Charlie Cheswicke in the film, paddock went on to play a warped teacher in Carrie and later appeared as the perverse innkeeper in The Unseen.
Nathan George: Asylum attendant Washington would go on to portray Ice in Short Eyes, a film about a child rapist sent to prison.
Scatman Crothers: He was Orderly Tickle so not actually a patient, but the fact that he would go on to appear in three more films with Nicholson might qualify him as somewhat crazy.
