Sacheen Littlefeather, Who Declined Marlon Brando's Oscar In 1973, Has Died At 75

[DBoon]

https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/motion-picture-academy-will-apologize-formally-to-sacheen-littlefeather-at-celebration-of-native-american-culture

Updated Oct. 2: Sacheen Littlefeather has died at the age of 75. Her death came just weeks after she accepted a formal apology in person at a tribute in Los Angeles. Read on for details about that event, and her wishes on how she wanted to be remembered.

Nearly 50 years ago, Marlon Brando refused to attend the Academy Awards ceremony where he was up for top acting honors for his role in The Godfather. Instead, he sent Sacheen Littlefeather to the ceremony with instructions to refuse the Oscar, should his name be called.

On Saturday, at sold-out celebration of Native American culture at the Museum of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy apologized formally for what happened next in that 1973 ceremony.

[2naSalit]

1. ...

[chowder66]

2. Oh no!

[WheelWalker]

3. ...and the Wheel turns.

[dalton99a]

4. R.I.P.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Interesting timing.....

[mountain grammy]

6. I remember her walking up there

In elegant Indian attire I thought how beautiful and brave she was. I was shocked at the rude and disrespectful reaction of the audience.

Rest In Peace Sacheen Littlefeather.

[sheshe2]

8. I really wish we had the 'like' feature here.

Good post mountain Grammy.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. I remember watching that at the time, as well

She was treated terribly, many winners over the years have appointed someone else to accept for them. At least she lived long enough to receive a long-overdue apology.

[Kablooie]

7. Right after the apology.

Sad.

I was there at the Academy Awards that night as a performer. I watched the show on a TV in the green room which was right underneath where she was standing when she gave her speech.

[progressoid]

13. She knew she was dying.

A 1:09:38 she talks about leaving this world soon.

?t=4178

[LeftInTX]

18. The academy knew she was dying

[niyad]

9. Rest in power, brave spirit.

[Archae]

11. Didn't she pose in Playboy once?

I seem to remember that.

[progressoid]

15. Wikipedia says...

Playboy magazine planned a spread called "10 Little Indians" in 1972, and one of the models was Littlefeather, but the spread was cancelled.[31] A year later in October 1973, after her Academy Award appearance fame, they ran the photographs of Littlefeather as a stand-alone feature.[3][32] Littlefeather was personally criticized for what was seen as exploitation of her fame,[33] but she explained that it was "strictly a business agreement" to earn the money needed to attend the World Theater Festival in Nancy, France.[34] Looking back at the photo shoot, Littlefeather later said, "I was young and dumb."[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacheen_Littlefeather

[Raine]

12. R-I-P 🕯️nt

[progressoid]

14. Sacheen Littlefeather Recalls John Wayne Charging Up To Her To Assault After Her 1973 Oscars Speech

Littlefeather walked up to the Oscars stage and said, “I’m Sacheen Littlefeather. I’m Marlon Brando’s official representative here this evening. Unfortunately, he cannot receive this Academy Award because of the image of Native American Indian people in film and television today.”

“That’s when people started booing, and the other half started cheering,” Littlefeather remembered. “And that’s when all the people started getting into commotion in the audience.”

Littlefeather said that when she left the stage, she spotted John Wayne, who was furious about her speech and approached her in such a way that she thought he would assault her.

“(John Wayne) did not like what I was saying up at the podium,” Littlefeather said, quoted by ‘Variety’. “So, he came forth in a rage to physically assault and take me off the stage. And he had to be restrained by six security men in order for that not to happen.”

“It was interesting because some people were giving me the tomahawk chop. I thought, ‘This is very racist. Very racist indeed.’ And I just gracefully walked and ignored them,” Littlefeather continued.

“They put two armed guards around me, and said they were going to take me to these different press rooms. One was for television press, radio press and international press. And I would have about 10 minutes in each press room, and that was it. And then, I was escorted out the door.”

https://www.koimoi.com/hollywood-news/sacheen-littlefeather-recalls-john-wayne-charging-up-to-her-to-assault-after-her-1973-oscars-speech/

[hardluck]

16. Did that actually happen?

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-08-23/column-did-john-wayne-try-to-assault-sacheen-littlefeather-at-the-1973-oscars-debunking-a-hollywood-myth


The revival of the Wayne story caught the attention of one of our most learned and entertaining cineastes and film historians, Farran Nehme, who writes an indispensable film blog under the pseudonym Self-Styled Siren.

“Once again,” Nehme writes, “we’re flooded with the tale of John Wayne and the Six Security Men, the lousy variety act many people believe played the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion back in 1973.”

Her conclusion, after considerable reporting and research, is: “Never happened.” Rather, she says, the story began as an exaggerated yarn that Oscar telecast director Marty Pasetta started telling interviewers a year or so after the fact “that got more exciting each time it was told” until it became “a persistent urban legend.”

[C Moon]

17. They mentioned Dennis Miller. What a fucking joke of a comedian that asshole is.

He's about as interesting as watching laundry dry.