In 1973, Sacheen Littlefeather appeared in full Native American garb at the 45th Academy Awards ceremony to decline the Best Actor Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando. Brando, she said, had boycotted the event to protest Hollywood’s portrayals of Native Americans. In the decades after the ceremony, Littlefeather continued to work as an actress, model, and activist, producing films about Native American life that eventually prompted the Academy to issue a statement of apology at a 2022 event entitled, “An Evening with Sacheen Littlefeather.”
There was just one problem: according to her sisters, Littlefeather, whose birth name was Marie Louise Cruz, was not Native American. She had fabricated her story of Native American ancestry, perhaps to find work. Littlefeather was a victim not by fate but choice.
Comments