Sacheen Littlefeather: "I promised Marlon Brando not to touch that Oscar"

Academy member Bird Runningwater reaches out to activist Sacheen Littlefeather. Frazer Harrison (AFP)

In 1973, Marlon Brando asked a friend of his, the actress and indigenous activist Sacheen Littlefeather, to attend the Oscars ceremony on his behalf, for which he was nominated for his performance as Vito Corleone in

.

He commissioned the then 26-year-old, if the Academy awarded her, to read a speech in which she explained her reasons for turning down Hollywood's most coveted award.

The actor, who had already won an award for

, took his time writing about six or seven pages.

The text was a criticism of the military's siege of Sioux Indians.

They were demonstrating there against the installation of a missile base in the territory of his tribe, Wounded Knee (Wounded Knee), in South Dakota.

Littlefeather put on a fur dress like those worn by his Apache people.

He came out of there and kept his word.

"I promised Marlon not to touch that Oscar," he recalled this Saturday, almost 50 years later at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion in downtown Los Angeles.

With a firm gesture, the activist rejected the statuette offered by Roger Moore and Liv Ullan.

And she reported that Brando "was sorry he couldn't accept such a generous award."

She was very kind in the 60 seconds that the production gave her.

Before her, they threatened to arrest her if she exceeded the time allowed.

So she improvised in front of millions of viewers.

Littelfeather complained about the stereotype with which American Indians were portrayed in Hollywood in works written and directed by the very people who were in front of her.

The response was immediate.

The public was divided between those who booed her and those who applauded her angrily.

"There was a commotion backstage," Littlefeather said.

The activist, now 75 years old, came out on stage in Los Angeles in a wheelchair.

She has always said that one of the main enemies of her message that historic night was John Wayne, who was on one of the sides and had to be held down by six guards so that he would not fall on top of him, but Hollywood historians like Farran Smith Nehme denied this.

Instead, what Clint Eastwood said before opening the envelope with the jury's decision for Best Picture did happen: "I don't know if I should present this award in memory of all the cowboys who have been killed in John Wayne's movies." ”.

Sacheen Littlefeather turns down the Oscar in front of Moore and Ullman, in March 1973. Getty

Littlefeather's film career ended after that.

She was a member of the actors' union, the Screen Actors Guild, but her doors were closed to her.

“The government was very upset.

They asked the big studios not to hire me or there would be retaliation,” she explained in 2016 to

.

The activist herself claimed that Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett, two popular

, did not want her as their guest.

“It was the price I had to pay.

And that's fine,” she said at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which she is re-examining the organization's role, now singled out for its lack of diversity.

This summer, the organization offered a public apology for the incident.

Littlefeather joked about the time between the insult and the apology: "We Indians are very patient people," she laughed.

"I hope we never have to suffer another similar lack of respect";

said the president of the Academy, Janet Yang, who in August took the reins of a group that tries to recover from the controversy after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the last ceremony of these awards.

The Academy theater recorded a full house on Saturday.

Among the people who attended were dozens of members of the tribes of the United States: Cheyennes, Cucapás, Kickapoos, Osages, Navajos and others.

Many attended dressed in traditional clothing and ululated in affirmation when Sacheen spoke.

There were dances and songs from different tribes.

“When I am gone, let them know that I spoke out for the truth, I spoke out for their tribes and their members,” she said in a message that sounded like a farewell.

Littlefeather's gesture gained strength over the decades.

She has been the subject of a documentary and has been a very prominent figure for Native Americans.

In 2016, her name resurfaced as part of the context that helps understand the #OscarSoWhite, the edition that lost its shine due to its lack of diversity.

Jada Pinkett Smith, who boycotted the event, exchanged messages with Littlefeather.

"Thank you so much for being a brave and courageous woman who helped pave the way," she wrote Pinkett.

The actress, along with her husband, Will Smith, stepped back into the Oscar spotlight in 2021, but this time for the wrong reasons.