Deaf News Briefs: CODA actress Louise Fletcher passes away; Rodney Burford as Tony Hughes in Netflix series on Dahmer murders
Here are two Deaf News briefs.
CODA actress Louise Fletcher passes away
Actress Louise Fletcher, who is best known for playing the role of Nurse Ratched in the 1975 film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” passed away on Friday. She was 88.
Fletcher won a best actress Oscar for her role and during her acceptance speech, she signed in ASL to honor and show gratitude to her deaf parents who lived in Birmingham, Alabama. She said, “For my mother and my father. I want to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dreams come true.”
I read an article on TheWrap.com that explained who Fletcher’s parents were. Their names were Estelle and R.C. The couple met at Gallaudet University. R.C. was an Episcopal church leader who opened over 40 churches in 11 Southern states. R.C died in 1988 at the age of 87 and Estelle died six years later at the age of 91. Fletcher said in an interview a few months ago that she was very lucky to be born as their daughter.
Marlee Matlin said in a tribute on Twitter, “Sad to read of the passing of Louise Fletcher. Brilliant actress & Academy Award winner, I remember her as the daughter of Deaf parents (CODA) who was the FIRST to sign her acceptance speech at the Oscars. And she was so lovely as my mother on ‘Picket Fences.’ RIP dear Louise.”
——--
[Sponsored video from Convo: www.convorelay.com]
——
[Advertisement from ‘What’s the Sign?’] Want an easy and fast way to look up various ASL signs for this and that? Or maybe you know someone who wants to communicate with you in ASL?Subscribe to What's the Sign? and you’ll have access to an ASL dictionary that you can use anytime and anywhere! Go to whatsthesign.com to learn more!
—---
Rodney Burford as Tony Hughes in Netflix series on Dahmer murders
The second news brief is to let you know that there is a deaf character who had a key role in Netflix’s “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.”
The actor is Rodney Burford and he plays the role of Tony Hughes, who was one of the victims of the serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed 17 people. Hughes was the 12th person who was murdered — he died on May 1991.
You may have seen Burford before because he is one of the college students featured in Netflix’s “Deaf U,” which came out in 2020. He is currently a Gallaudet senior and plays on the football team as a linebacker.
The Hughes/Burford character appears in the sixth episode, titled “ Silenced.” There are other deaf actors in the episode and I recognized one of them as Michael Anthony Spady.
I don’t want to spoil the episode, but I’ll tell you that there is a lot of authentic ASL in it. There was also a lot of pen-and-paper communication — and this is how the Hughes/Burford character communicated with Dahmer.
You can check out the episode on Netflix. I will follow up on this story in a future video that hopefully provides more details about Burford and his character of Tony Hughes.
That’s the two Deaf News briefs for today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGl5U7nNlkY
https://www.thewrap.com/louise-fletcher-oscar-sign-language-cuckoos-nest/