Sachin Littlefeather famously declined Marlon Brando’s Academy Award in 1973
Sachin Littlefeather famously declined Marlon Brando’s Academy Award in 1973
Sachen Littlefeather, the Native American civil rights activist who declined the Academy Award for Best Actor for Marlon Brando in 1973, died at the age of 75 on October 2, 2022.
Littlefeather died Sunday near her resident in Novato, Northern California, according to a statement sent by her caretaker.
In 2018, it was reported that Littlefeather had developed stage 4 breast cancer.
Mary Louise Cruz, born in Salinas, California, in 1946 to a Native American father (Apache and Yaqui) and European American mother, became interested in Native American issues in college and participated in the capture of Alcatraz Island in 1970, during which His name was adopted. ,
After college, she joined the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and reportedly met Brando, who took an interest in Native American issues through her “The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola, who, like Littlefeathers, lived in San Francisco. lived in
In 1973, Littlefeather stood on the Academy Awards stage on behalf of Marlon Brando to speak about the portrayal of Native Americans in Hollywood films. Littlefeather, dressed in a buckskin dress and moccasins, took to the stage, becoming the first Native American woman to do so at the Academy Awards. In a 60-second speech, he explained that Brando could not accept the award because of “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry”.
Earlier this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences apologized to him for the mistreatment he faced, including being “professional ostracized, personally harassed and assaulted, and discriminated against for the past fifty years.”
Watch Sachin Littlefeather’s speech at the 1973 Oscars here:
Some in the audience booed him. John Wayne, who was backstage at the time, was reportedly furious and had to be stopped by bodyguards from getting on stage.
On September 17, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted An Evening with Sachin Littlefeather, described as “a special celebration of live Native American performances featuring the long-awaited statement of apology from the Academy”. Is.
In a podcast earlier this year, Jacqueline Stewart, a film scholar and director of the Academy Museum, Littlefeather reflected on what forced her to speak in 1973.
Littlefeather said, “I felt there should be Native peoples, black people, Asian people, Chicano people – I thought it should include everyone.” “A rainbow of people who must be involved in creating their own image.”
Although he had a few minor roles in films such as “The Trial of Billy Jack” (1974) and “Shoot the Sun Down” (1978), Littlefeather stated that he was blacklisted from Hollywood after his Oscar address.
She later returned to San Francisco to continue her activism and work in theater and health care.
A documentary titled “Sachin Breaking the Silence” about his life and activism was released in 2021.
(with inputs from agencies)