Apache activist and actress Sashen Littlefeather, who refused to accept the Best Actor award on behalf of Marlon Brando at the 1973 Oscars, pierced the façade of the ceremony, highlighting her criticism of Hollywood’s portrayal. The act caused ridicule on stage. Native American, deceased. she was 75 years old.
her death announced on Sunday By Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Her death came just weeks after the Academy apologized to Ms. Littlefeather for her treatment during the Oscars. hollywood reporter In August, Littlefeather said she was “stunned” by the apology. “I never thought the day would come when I would hear this and experience this,” she said.
That night, when the then-26-year-old Littlefeather raised her right hand inside Los Angeles’ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the honorees, the audience, and the millions watching on TV knew she was a shiny gold. have made it clear that they do not wish to receive The statue – marked him one of the most famously devastating moments in Oscar’s history.
At the rostrum, after enduring the chorus, Ms Littlefeather said, “I ask you not to disturb me tonight. In the future our hearts and understandings will meet with love and generosity.” Boos and some cheers from the crowd.
Wearing a shimmering buckskin dress, moccasins and hair ties, the 26-year-old was the first Native American woman to appear on stage at the 45th Annual Academy Awards. But the backlash and criticism were immediate: actor John Wayne was very upset. that show producerMarty Passetta said security had to restrain him to keep him from storming the stage.
she said hollywood reporter August: “When I stood on the podium in 1973, I was standing alone.”
Littlefeather, whose birth name was Marie Cruz, was born on November 14, 1946, in Salinas, California, to a White Mountains, Arizona, Apache and Yaqui father and a French-German-Dutch mother. was born inshe to her websiteAfter graduating from high school, she took the name Sashen Littlefeather to “reflect her natural heritage,” the site says.
According to her website, she participated in the Native American occupation of Alcatraz in 1969.
Her acting career began in the early 1970s at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. She went on to play roles in movies like ‘The Trial of Billy Jack’ and ‘Winterhawk’.
In an interview with the Academy, Littlefeather said he planned to watch the awards on TV when Brando, who had been nominated for his role as Vito Corleone in “The Godfather,” called him the night before the ceremony. ”
The two became friends through her neighbor, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Mr. Brand asked her to decline the award on her behalf if he won, and had her read the speech just in case.
With about 15 minutes left in the program, Mr. Littlefeather arrived at the ceremony with little information about what the evening would be like.
An Academy Award producer noticed the page in Ms. Littlefeather’s hand and told her that if her comments lasted longer than 60 seconds, she would be arrested.
And Mr. Brand won.
In her speech, Ms. Littlefeather also drew attention to the conflict between the federal government and Native Americans at Wounded Knee.
She later recalled that while giving her speech, “the focus was on open mouths and jaws in the audience, and there were quite a few.”
Audiences, she recalled, looked like “a sea of Clorox” because “there were very few people of color.”
She said some audience members gave her the so-called “Tomahawk chop”, and later when she went to Mr. Bland’s house, people shot the doorway she was standing in.
Last month, Ms. Littlefeather announced the Academy-sponsored “A night with Sashen Littlefeather,’” recalls how she stood up for art justice.
“I wasn’t representing myself,” she said. “I was representing all the voices of the Indigenous people out there, all the Indigenous peoples, because I had never heard it in such a way before.”
And when she said those words, the audience erupted in applause.
“I had to pay an entrance fee, which was fine,” she said. “Because those doors had to be open.”
After learning that the Academy would officially apologize to her, Ms. Littlefeather said it felt “like a big cleanse.”
“I feel like the sacred wheel is completed before I go into this life,” she said.