Actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who famously declined a 1973 Oscar on behalf of actor Marlon Brando, has died on the age of 75, the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences mentioned.
The Academy confirmed the Apache and Yaqui lady’s demise on Twitter on Sunday evening (native time).
In 1973, Littlefeather grew to become the primary Native American lady to face onstage on the Academy Awards, on behalf of Brando.
At his request, she didn’t settle for his Greatest Actor award for The Godfather, explaining why in a strong speech during which she spoke of the movie business’s mistreatment of Native Individuals.
Littlefeather was booed off the stage after 60 seconds for the remarks, which drew consideration to an Indigenous folks’s protest at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
“Mr Brando very regretfully can’t settle for this very beneficiant award right now, and the explanations for this are the remedy of American Indians right now by the movie business, and on tv and film reruns and likewise with latest happenings at Wounded Knee,” she mentioned on the time.
She was then professionally boycotted by the movie business for many years.
In June this 12 months – nearly 50 years on – Littlefeather acquired an apology from the Academy, signed by then president David Rubin.
“As you stood on the Oscars stage in 1973 to not settle for the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, in recognition of the misrepresentation and mistreatment of Native American folks by the movie business, you made a strong assertion that continues to remind us of the need of respect and the significance of human dignity,” the letter mentioned.
“The abuse you endured due to this assertion was unwarranted and unjustified. The emotional burden you’ve lived by way of and the price to your personal profession in our business are irreparable.
“For too lengthy the braveness you confirmed has been unacknowledged. For this, we provide each our deepest apologies and our honest admiration.”
Talking at an occasion in her honour on the Academy Museum of Movement Footage in Los Angeles final month, Littlefeather was met with applause as she took to the stage.
“Effectively, I made it. It took 50 years,” she mentioned.
The occasion included the studying of the Academy’s apology letter, to which Littlefeather responded: “I’m accepting this apology not just for me alone, however an acknowledgement not just for me, however all of our [Native American] nation.
“Our nation wants to listen to this apology.”
