Oregon State Hospital, Salem · January to March 1975
McMurphy’s try: push the lever.
McMurphy’s try: push the lever.
The tub room · the Museum of Mental Health
McMurphy bets the others he can lift the hydrotherapy fountain, and cannot. Near the end, the Chief tears it from its base, throws it through the window and runs. The fountain is real. It is in the hospital’s own museum now.
McMurphy cannot lift the heavy hydrotherapy fountain; the Chief rips it from its base, throws it through the window and escapes.
Its galleries cover why people came to the hospital, treatment, work and play, the tunnels, the Dean Brooks Room, a ward room and life on the ward. One gallery is given to the film.
The film gallery holds the hydrotherapy machine, the day-room television and Chief Bromden’s broom.
The hospital opened here in 1883 as the Oregon State Insane Asylum. Parts of the Kirkbride Building were demolished from 2008; its centre was kept, renovated, and now houses the museum.
Open Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 4pm. $8; $7 for seniors and students; under-10s free. Check the museum’s calendar for closures.
The film is fiction. The museum tells the hospital’s own history: why people came, how they were treated, how they lived and worked, in their words where it can.
2600 Center Street NE · Salem
Two buildings in the shoot: the admission in the Dome, the ward in the J-Building.
The Dome Building was built from 1911 to 1917 as the hospital’s receiving building, to designs by Edgar Lazarus. It had hydrotherapy baths.
In 1975 its grand lobby and rotunda were used for the scene of a patient’s admission.
The film’s main ward set was in already abandoned wards of the J-Building on the south campus, repainted for the purpose. In 2016 the Dome Building was the only building used in the filming still standing.
By 1976 the state Corrections Division had moved in. In 2016 the building was offices; the Oregon Film Trail names it as the Department of Corrections headquarters.
State offices, not open to visitors. See the dome and its wings from Center Street.
A working hospital
They did not build a hospital. They used one that was open, with its patients in it.
The hospital’s director, Dean Brooks, backed the shoot and played Dr Spivey. He gave each actor a patient to shadow, and some of the cast slept on the wards. He also wanted patients on the crew, and the producers agreed: the Oregon Film Trail counts ninety hired, working in every department of the film company.
Miloš Forman directed. Haskell Wexler began as cinematographer and was replaced by Bill Butler; both were nominated for the Oscar.
Dean Brooks supported the filming, played Dr John Spivey, assigned each actor a patient to shadow; some cast slept on the wards; patients joined the crew; Wexler replaced by Butler, both nominated.
Ninety patients hired to work in every department of the film company.
Rehearsals from 4 January 1975 and the shoot from 13 January, about three months; nine nominations and five wins.
Wikipedia: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (film)Wikipedia: 48th Academy Awards
Ninety patients hired.
Depoe Bay · March 1975
The day out: a hijacked bus, a stolen boat, open sea. It was shot at Depoe Bay, 85 km west of the hospital as the crow flies, in a harbour of six acres.
Two boats in the harbour. Send one out.
Also in the cast, uncredited: one local salmon, refrozen and brought back day after day.
The fishing trip was shot here in March 1975, on a boat provided by Dockside Charters.
The harbour covers six acres. The town calls it the world’s smallest navigable harbour.
Look down on it from the US-101 bridge, then walk down to the docks. The Oregon Film Trail sign is between docks 1 and 2.
270 Coast Guard Drive, Depoe Bay
The Oregon Film Trail says Dockside Charters stands where McMurphy and the patients charter their fishing trip.
It runs whale-watching trips from late December to late October, weather permitting, and fishing trips for rockfish, ling cod, halibut, salmon and albacore tuna.
Whale-watching trips from late December to late October, weather permitting; fishing and crabbing trips in season. Book ahead.
58 US-101, Depoe Bay
Gracie’s Sea Hag was a regular stop for the cast and crew.
It is open seven days a week, on the coast highway at 58 US-101.
Open every day: the restaurant from 8am, the bar from 11am (9am at weekends).
119 South Highway 101, Depoe Bay
The Whale Watching Center sits on the Depoe Bay seawall, with views over the ocean and displays about whales. Park staff are there all year to help visitors spot grey whales.
It opens Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm.
Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm. Winter Whale Watch Week runs from 27 to 31 December 2026.
Depoe Bay · Whale watching and fishing
The charter office the Oregon Film Trail places where the patients board. Whale-watching trips run from late December to late October, weather permitting; fishing trips in season.
See the trips
Oregon State Hospital · Building 60
Oregon State Hospital looks after the cremated remains of about 3,500 people who died while living or working at the hospital and at several other state institutions. The cremations took place here between 1914 and 1973.
The memorial is a final resting place for those whose remains will never be claimed. Every year more families come forward to take an urn home.
In 2004 more than 5,000 copper canisters of unclaimed remains were found in a basement on the campus. In 2011 Building 60 was renovated as a public memorial.
On a working hospital campus. Ask the hospital before visiting, and come quietly.
Menlo Park · Broadway · Los Angeles · Eugene
The story started with a night aide in California and ended, for its makers, with five Oscars in one night.
795 Willow Road, Menlo Park, California
Ken Kesey worked as a night aide at the Menlo Park Veterans’ Hospital.
He studied at Stanford’s Creative Writing Center, began One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1960, and saw Viking publish it in 1962.
A working hospital for veterans, not a sightseeing stop. See it only from Willow Road.
138 West 48th Street, Manhattan
Dale Wasserman’s stage version opened here, at the Cort Theatre, on 13 November 1963, with Kirk Douglas as McMurphy and Gene Wilder as Billy Bibbit. It closed on 25 January 1964 after 82 performances.
Douglas kept the film rights for about ten years, then passed them to his son Michael, who got the film made.
The theatre opened in 1912 and took James Earl Jones’s name in 2022.
A working Broadway theatre between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.
135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
The 48th Academy Awards were held here on 29 March 1976. The film had nine nominations and won the five main awards: picture, director, actor, actress and adapted screenplay.
The pavilion opened in 1964 and hosted the Oscars every year from 1969 to 1987. It is home to Los Angeles Opera.
Home of Los Angeles Opera, at the Music Center. Go to a performance.
Broadway and Willamette Street, Eugene
Pete Helzer’s bronze The Storyteller, unveiled in 2003, shows Ken Kesey reading to three of his grandchildren.
The square, at Broadway and Willamette Street, was renamed Kesey Square in October 2017.
Kesey died in Eugene on 10 November 2001.
A public square in downtown Eugene. You can sit on the bench beside him.
Ken Kesey
The 1962 novel, in Penguin Modern Classics.
Find the bookThe people
Jack Nicholson played McMurphy and Louise Fletcher played Nurse Ratched; both won Oscars. Will Sampson, who had never acted before, played Chief Bromden; we have found no free photograph of him from those years. Danny DeVito came first, as Martini, the part he had played off-Broadway in 1971. Christopher Lloyd, as Taber, and Brad Dourif, as Billy Bibbit, made their first feature films. Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman wrote the screenplay. No free photograph of Miloš Forman from the 1970s has turned up, so he is shown in 2009.
It opened at the Chicago International Film Festival on 7 November 1975, reached American cinemas on 19 November, and joined the National Film Registry in 1993.
Cast and roles; Sampson’s first role; DeVito first cast, from the 1971 off-Broadway production; Lloyd and Dourif’s feature debuts; Chicago premiere on 7 November and US opening on 19 November 1975; National Film Registry, 1993.
Screenwriters Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman; director Miloš Forman.
11 places, most of them in Salem and on the six-acre harbour at Depoe Bay. Two are working hospital campuses: see them from outside.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 4pm. $8; $7 for seniors and students; under-10s free. Check the museum’s calendar for closures.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. State offices, not open to visitors. See the dome and its wings from Center Street.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. On a working hospital campus. Ask the hospital before visiting, and come quietly.
Kirkbride Building, 2600 Center Street NE, Salem
The Museum of Mental Health is on the first floor of the Kirkbride Building, on the Oregon State Hospital campus at 2600 Center Street NE.
Open Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 4pm. $8; $7 for seniors and students; under-10s free. Check the museum’s calendar for closures.
2575 Center Street NE, Salem
The Dome Building was built from 1911 to 1917 as the hospital’s receiving building, to designs by Edgar Lazarus. It had hydrotherapy baths.
State offices, not open to visitors. See the dome and its wings from Center Street.
Oregon State Hospital campus, 2600 Center Street NE, Salem
Oregon State Hospital looks after the cremated remains of about 3,500 people who died while living or working at the hospital and at several other state institutions. The cremations took place here between 1914 and 1973.
On a working hospital campus. Ask the hospital before visiting, and come quietly.
Stay
A small hotel above the ocean at Depoe Bay, or downtown Salem near the hospital campus.
Depoe Bay · Oceanfront rooms
A small hotel on an oceanfront bluff at 35 Ellingson Street, with whirlpools on oceanfront decks and gas fireplaces. Three rooms in the Allyn House can be booked during a remodel that runs until 1 January 2027.
See the roomsSalem · Downtown Salem
A downtown hotel at 201 Liberty Street SE, a short drive from the hospital campus and the museum.
See the hotelGo there
The charter office from the film trail, and whale-watching trips along the coast.
Depoe Bay · Whale watching and fishing
The charter office the Oregon Film Trail places where the patients board. Whale-watching trips run from late December to late October, weather permitting; fishing trips in season.
See the tripsOregon coast
Live marketplace results for whale-watching trips from Depoe Bay and nearby harbours. None is about the film.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Oregon State Parks’ Whale Watch Weeks, with volunteers on the Depoe Bay seawall.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Kesey’s novel, and originals in our poster store: the French grande, the American one-sheet and the Polish poster.
Ken Kesey
The 1962 novel, in Penguin Modern Classics.
Find the bookThe French poster, 47 × 63 in, from 1975. Near mint, previously folded, now rolled.
In stock
View posterThe original American poster, 27 × 40 in, from 1975. Near mint, previously folded, now rolled.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterThe Polish poster by Andrzej Pągowski, 27 × 39 in. Mint, rolled.
Sold out · archive reference
View posterDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 13 of 13 Moments
Kirkbride Building, 2600 Center Street NE, Salem
The film’s main ward set is built in already abandoned wards of the J-Building on the south campus, repainted for the purpose.
The hospital’s director, Dean Brooks, supports the shoot, plays Dr Spivey and pairs each actor with a patient to shadow. Ninety patients are hired to work across the film company.
The museum lists the hydrotherapy machine, the day-room television and Chief Bromden’s broom among its artifacts from the film.
2575 Center Street NE, Salem
The grand lobby and rotunda of the Dome Building are used for the scene of a patient’s admission.
Oregon State Hospital campus, 2600 Center Street NE, Salem
The hospital keeps a memorial for about 3,500 people whose cremated remains were never claimed.
Depoe Bay harbour, off US-101, Depoe Bay
The fishing trip is shot at Depoe Bay in March 1975, on a boat provided by Dockside Charters.
270 Coast Guard Drive, Depoe Bay
Dockside Charters stands where McMurphy and the patients charter their boat.
58 US-101, Depoe Bay
Gracie’s Sea Hag is a regular stop for the cast and crew.
119 South Highway 101, Depoe Bay
Park staff on the seawall help visitors spot grey whales all year.
Broadway and Willamette Street, Eugene
Pete Helzer’s bronze of Kesey reading to his grandchildren is unveiled in Eugene.
795 Willow Road, Menlo Park, California
Ken Kesey works as a night aide at the Menlo Park Veterans’ Hospital and begins the novel in 1960.
138 West 48th Street, Manhattan
The stage version opens at the Cort with Kirk Douglas as McMurphy.
135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
The film wins best picture, director, actor, actress and adapted screenplay.
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