Sacheen Littlefeather

Sacheen Littlefeather
Born Marie Louise Cruz
November 14, 1946
Salinas, California
Occupation Civil rights activist

Sacheen Littlefeather (born Marie Louise Cruz,[1] November 14, 1946) is a Native American civil rights activist.

She is best known for presenting a declinatory speech on behalf of actor Marlon Brando, when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Godfather at the 45th Academy Awards ceremony on March 27, 1973, which he also boycotted in protest of the treatment of Native Americans by the film industry. She wore an Apache dress on the occasion.

Littlefeather was born in Salinas, California.[2] Her ancestry is Apache, Yaqui, Pueblo on her father's side and her mother is of French, German, and Dutch descent. On her official website, she states her father was from the White Mountain Apache and Yaqui tribes from Arizona and that "Cruz" is her father's recognized tribe name.[3]

Activism

A member of Indians of All Tribes, Littlefeather had participated in the occupation of Alcatraz Island by American Indians' rights activists in 1969.[4]

Academy Awards controversy

Marlon Brando became involved with the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the early 1970s. In 1973, he decided to make a statement about the Wounded Knee incident and contacted AIM about providing a person to accept the Oscar for him. Dennis Banks and Russell Means picked Sacheen Littlefeather.

She represented Brando and his boycott of the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972), as a way to protest the ongoing siege at Wounded Knee and Hollywood's and television's misrepresentation of American Indians. Brando had written a 15-page speech for Littlefeather to give at the ceremony, but when the producer met her backstage he threatened to physically remove her or have her arrested if she spoke on stage for more than 60 seconds.[5] Her on-stage comments were therefore improvised. She then went backstage and read the entire speech to the press. In his autobiography My Word Is My Bond, Roger Moore (who presented the award and had recently been announced as the new James Bond, Agent 007) claims he took the Oscar home with him and kept it in his possession until it was collected by an armed guard sent by the Academy.

The incident provoked the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to rule out future proxy acceptance of the Academy Awards.[6]

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Sacheen Littlefeather". Sacheen Littlefeather. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  2. ↑ "California Birth Index, 1905-1995 - Ancestry.com". Search.ancestry.com. 1905-07-01. Retrieved 2012-10-04.
  3. ↑ Sacheen Cruz Littlefeather Biographical details
  4. ↑ James Stuart Olson. Historical dictionary of the 1970s. 1999, page 232
  5. ↑ personal interview in Neil Diamond's Reel Injun, (2009)
  6. ↑ "Oscar Watch; Oscar takes a bow for legacy of controversy", Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald, March 16, 2003

External links