The Oregon State Hospital, the filming location for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, will be torn down in a few months. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons.) From the Associated Press:
Although Cuckoo's Nest was filmed here, neither the movie nor the 1962 Ken Kesey novel on which it was based makes any specific references to Oregon State Hospital. Kesey drew on his experiences working at a veterans hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., and set his satirical story at an unnamed institution in Oregon.
Actor Michael Douglas, co-producer of the movie, scouted various West Coast locations and chose the Oregon institution because then-Superintendent Dean Brooks agreed to give the moviemakers unfettered access.
"They wanted to make it on location with real patients," said Brooks, now 91, who was given a speaking part as a weak-willed doctor who acquiesces to Nurse Ratched. Brooks said 89 patients were hired as extras.
Cuckoo's Nest Hospital to be Torn Down (Time)
