The Native American actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather (Apache/Yaqui/Ariz.), who appeared on stage at the 1973 Academy Awards to announce that Marlon Brando would not accept his Oscar for The Godfather, has passed away. She was 75.
According to a statement released by her carer, Littlefeather passed away at noon on Sunday at her home in the Northern California city of Novato, surrounded by her loved ones. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences shared the information on social media on Sunday night. The organisation reunited with Littlefeather in June and recently held a celebration in her honour.
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Littlefeather revealed in March 2018 that she had been given a stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis and that it had spread recently.
In protest of how Native Americans were portrayed in movies and to honour the ongoing occupation at Wounded Knee, where 200 members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) squared off against tens of thousands of U.S. marshals and other federal agents in the South Dakota town, Brando made the decision to abstain from the March 1973 Oscars.
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When Brando's name was announced as the winner of the best actor award by presenters Liv Ullmann and Roger Moore, the show cut to Littlefeather, then 26 and dressed in an Apache traditional outfit, leaving her seat at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and entering the stage as the announcer said, “Accepting the award for Marlon Brando and The Godfather, Miss Sacheen Littlefeather.”
In her final public appearance, she said, “I am here accepting this apology, not only for me alone but as acknowledgement, knowing that it was not only for me but for all of our nations that also need to hear and deserve this apology tonight. Look at our people. Look at each other and be proud that we stand as survivors, all of us. Please, when I’m gone, always be reminded that whenever you stand for your truth, you will be keeping my voice, and the voices of our nations, and our people, alive.”
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