Doctor who opened Oregon State Hospital to filming of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ dies

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – The psychiatrist who opened the doors of the Oregon State Hospital to filming of the 1975 Academy Award-winning movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” has died.

Family members say Dr. Dean Brooks had been in declining health for several weeks when he died May 30 at a retirement home in Salem. He was 96.

Brooks’ daughter Dennie Brooks says the film’s producers had been turned down by all the other mental hospitals they approached. But she says her father, who was superintendent of the Salem hospital, saw the value of the movie in starting a national discussion about mental health and the responsibility of institutions to do no harm.

She says Dean Brooks also thought being part of a movie would be fun for him and for patients.