Sacheen Littlefeather

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Sacheen Littlefeather (born Maria Cruz on 30 January 1947) Salinas, California, USA was an activist who donned Apache dress and rejected the Oscar on behalf of actor Marlon Brando in a prepared statement at the March 27, 1973 Academy Awards.

Marlon Brando became involved with the American Indian Movement in the early 1970s. He decided in 1973 that he wanted to make a statement about events at Wounded Knee and contacted AIM about providing a person to accept the Oscar for him. Dennis Banks and Russell Means picked Maria Cruz. She had previously been the winner of the 1970 Miss American Vampire competition.

She refused Brando's Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather to protest the ongoing siege at Wounded Knee and Hollywood and television's misrepresentation of American Indians. Marlon Brando had written a fifteen page speech to be given at the awards by Cruz, but when the producer met her backstage, he threatened to physically remove her if she spoke on stage for more than 45 seconds. Her comments on stage were improvised. She then went backstage and read the entire speech to the press.

Afterward, she began a brief acting career and appeared nude in Playboy in October 1973. Cruz is of Mexican ancestry, with heritage that includes Apache, Yaqui, Pueblo and Caucasian blood.

[edit] Filmography

Shoot the Sun Down (1981)
Winterhawk (1975)
Johnny Firecloud (1975)
Freebie and the Bean (1974) (uncredited)
The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
The Laughing Policeman (1973) (uncredited)
Consigliori, Il (1973)
The 45th Annual Academy Awards (TV)(1973) (Refusing to accept Marlon Brando's Best Actor award for The Godfather)