IPA's Tip of the Cap to Louise Fletcher: The Mary Pickford Award

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Press Academy (IPA) today announced Oscar-winner Louise Fletcher, who won an Academy Award® as Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," as the 2015 Mary Pickford Award honoree for Outstanding Contribution to the Entertainment Industry. She will be presented with a statuette on Sunday, Feb. 21 in Century City at the 20th Satellite Awards. Adapted from Ken Kesey's novel and directed by Miloš Forman, this film is a favorite of US President Barack Obama. "I'm in his favorite movie. I feel honored because of that," Fletcher said.

Part of Classic Hollywood, Louise Fletcher won worldwide acclaim at a time when star-actors such as Walter Matthau and Gene Kelly were on hand as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" became only the second film in cinema history since 1934's "It Happened One Night" to win 'The Big Five' awards. Those are: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. (Only 1991's "Silence of the Lambs" has since joined the two.)

A longtime artist-activist, Fletcher's early life with deaf parents made her acutely aware of social issues. Hollywood's recent diversity fracas is on her radar. "One with leanings like mine would have expected this to change in a big, big, way by now," she said. "And we see this in every aspect of life, not just the entertainment industry. But we can do better. And we have to do better."

"They (The Academy) hate to be under pressure, but they do have an African-American President (Cheryl Boone Isaacs)," Fletcher noted. "When that happened, I expected things to change more, because it takes that kind of push, because it doesn't seem to happen otherwise… It has been tooth-and-nail for Obama to be recognized, even in the highest position in the land. There couldn't be a more thinking man, my heart goes out to him."

Now on the 40^th Anniversary of her Oscar win, Louise Fletcher becomes the 20^th Anniversary Mary Pickford Award recipient. She joins past honorees, including Ellen Burstyn, Mike Medavoy, Martin Landau, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Robert Evans, Karl Malden, Francis Ford Coppola, Maximilian Schell, Alan J. Pakula, Jodie Foster, Rod Steiger, Louis Gossett, Jr., Vanessa Williams, Mitzi Gaynor, Terence Stamp, and Kathy Bates.  

"The funny thing is, the year I won, at the awards, they gave Mary Pickford an honorary award (Oscar)," Louise Fletcher added, "so I have a connection to her. They filmed it at her home because she was housebound." Nicholson, who also won his first Oscar for "Cuckoo's Nest," said "and I'd like to thank Miss Pickford who, incidentally, I believe was the first actor to get a percentage of her pictures."

The IPA is among the largest, most diverse associations of professional entertainment journalists. See www.pressacademy.com for Satellite Award information.

SOURCE International Press Academy