Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American actress who famously declined Marlon Brandon's best actor Oscar in 1973, has died.
for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Her death came weeks after she received a long-overdue apology from the Academy Awards. Nearly 50 years ago, the actress and activist rejected an Oscar on behalf of"The Godfather" star Brando, who boycotted the ceremony to protest Hollywood's negative portrayals of Native Americans. Littlefeather delivered a speech on his behalf, which was roundly mocked and booed by many members of the audience.
Littlefeather told The Hollywood Reporter in August that she was"stunned" to receive a formal apology. "Honestly, it's been 50 years," Eric Buffalohead, chair of the American Indian, First Nations and Indigenous Studies department at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, told USA TODAY after the Academy event." definitely feels too little too late."
The 1973 Oscars were held during the American Indian Movement's two-month occupation of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, which Brando referenced in the speech she delivered.