On March 30, 1987, William Hurt presented Marlee Matlin with the Best Actress Oscar at the 59th Annual Academy Awards. Only 21 years old, Matlin became the first deaf person to win for her role in Children of a Lesser God.  She played a custodian at a school for the deaf and hard of hearing and became romantically involved with a new hearing teacher played by William Hurt. At age eight, she began taking roles in children’s theater productions for the International Center on D

On March 29, 1976, Louise Fletcher accepted an Academy Award for her role in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest." She had played the memorable role of Nurse Ratched. She made an emotional and unique acceptance speech at the Oscars that year for her best actress award. The actress decided to honor her parents, who were both deaf, by using American Sign Language. Fletcher told the audience: “I wanted to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dream come t

It was on this day (Jan. 28, 2021) that the film CODA had its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. In the movie CODA, Emilia Jones plays the only hearing member of a deaf family. She has to decide whether to leave and pursue her music dreams or stay at home to help her parents. The story is based on the French film La famille belier. The costumes for the actors, including Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin, come from the imagination of veteran designer Brenda Abbanda

Louise Fletcher, best known for her role as Nurse Ratched in the 1975 classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,  died on this date three years ago at the age of 88. image from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Fletcher won a Best Actress Academy Award for her work on the film. The second of four children, she grew up on Birmingham, Alabama. Her father, Robert Fletcher, served the deaf community as an Episcopal priest. He started dozens of churches for the deaf in Alabama. None o

A new sports drama called "Flash Before the Bang" will feature an all-deaf team. image from filmindependent.org Among the stars of the...