One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a film about a group of patients at a
mental institution, opened in theaters on this day in 1975. Directed by
Milos Forman and based on a 1962 novel of the same name by Ken
Kesey, the film starred Jack Nicholson and was co-produced by the
actor Michael Douglas. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest went on to
become the first film in four decades to win in all five of the major
Academy Award categories: Best Actor (Nicholson’s first win), Best
Actress (Louise Fletcher, who played Nurse Ratchet), Best Director,
Best Screenplay (Adapted) and Best Picture.

Louise Fletcher as Nurse Frida Ratchet.

Oregon State Psychiatric Hospital, now a museum in Salem, was
the setting for the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.