Sacheen Littlefeather, activist who declined Marlon Brando's Oscar, dies at 75
Sacheen Littlefeather, who famously took to the stage when Marlon Brando won an Oscar for The Godfather to decline the award, has died at the age of 75.
The activist had been battling breast cancer. The Academy of Motion Pictures announced the news Monday.
Littlefeather appeared on Brando's behalf during the 1973 Academy Awards ceremony to say he could not accept the statue and to acknowledge the mistreatment of the Native American community in the U.S. After just a minute on stage, she was escorted off as audience members booed. She was also reprimanded on camera by the evening's cohost Michael Caine and attendees such as Clint Eastwood.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Sacheen Littlefeather
"He very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award," Littlefeather said during the event. "And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry… and on television in movie reruns, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee."
She was later given the chance to read the rest of her speech at a press conference and saw it printed in The New York Times.
Littlefeather's motivation and identity were later debated by stars like John Wayne. "If [Brando] had something to say, he should have appeared that night and stated his views instead of taking some little unknown girl and dressing her up in an Indian outfit," Wayne reportedly said.
In September, the Academy apologized to Littlefeather in person during a public presentation held at the Academy Museum.
Born Marie Louise Cruz in Salinas, Calif, to a white mother and an Apache and Yaqui Indian father, she became interested in native issues while in college. She adopted her name while participating in the 1970 occupation of Alcatraz Island. She later joined the Screen Actors Guild, where she became acquainted with Brando and The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola. Taking on minor roles in productions like The Trial of Billy Jack, she was blacklisted following the Oscars and devoted herself to her activism work.
Littlefeather shared the events leading up to that moment with Variety last month.
"At that time in 1973, there was a media blackout on Wounded Knee and against the American Indian Movement that was occupying it," she said. "Marlon had called them in advance and asked them to watch the Academy Awards, which they did. As they saw me, up on stage, refusing that Academy Award for the stereotypes within the film industry, and mentioning Wounded Knee in South Dakota, it would break the media boycott."
The 2021 documentary Sacheen Breaking the Silence explored her life and activism.
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