She had appeared on screens around the world in traditional Apache attire, her face serious, a paper of demands in her hand.
Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American actress and activist who in 1973 was booed when she refused an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, has died at the age of 75, the Academy of Oscars announced Sunday.
She had announced in 2018 to suffer from breast cancer in phase.
Just two weeks ago, the Academy held a ceremony at its new museum in Los Angeles to pay tribute to Littlefeather and publicly apologize for the treatment she suffered at the Oscars ceremony nearly ago. 50 years old.
In its statement announcing her passing, the Academy quoted the Native American activist as saying
: “When I am gone, always remember that each time you stand up for your truth, you will keep my voice and the voices of our nations alive. and our peoples
.
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Littlefeather, born to an Apache and Yaqui father, made herself known to the world on the occasion of the 45th edition of the Academy Awards, the first to be broadcast live internationally.
Or in front of an audience of around 85 million people.
The 26-year-old activist had been nominated by Marlon Brando to receive the best actor award for his role in
The Godfather
– an award for which he was widely favored.
Brando and Littlefeather devised another plan, however.
When she arrived on stage, she refused with a gesture the statuette held out by Roger Moore, to whom had fallen - with the Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann - the presentation of the prize.
"I promised Brando that I wouldn't touch his Oscar
," Sacheen Littlefeather recalled in an interview with the
Guardian
in June 2021. Instead, and in consultation with the actor, she read a text of protest against the treatment of Native Americans by the American film industry.
“I went there, like a proud Indian woman, with dignity, courage, grace and humility
, testified Sacheen Littlefeather in September, during the ceremony at the Oscars museum.
I knew I had to tell the truth.
Some people can accept it.
And some don't."
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The scene, one of the first and most memorable outbursts of activism at the Oscars, earned the activist boos, as well as the anger of some stars who felt particularly targeted
.
Littlefeather said that it was necessary to prevent John Wayne, the king of the western, from physically attacking her as she left the stage.
Other actors, such as Clint Eastwood and Charlton Heston, had also shouted down this demonstration.
A member of the Screen Actors Guild, the first union for film actors founded in 1933, Sacheen Littlefeather then struggled to find work in Hollywood after casting directors were warned not to employ her.
An ostracization that the Academy of Oscars deeply regretted during the presentation of its apologies this summer, 49 years after the 45th ceremony.
"
I was amazed
," Sacheen Littlefeather told
The Hollywood Reporter
in August .
I would never have believed that I would live the day when I would hear this, when I would live this.
On the podium in 1973, I found myself in the most total solitude.
