On March 27, 1973, Marlon Brando was awarded Best Actor for his performance as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather at the 45th Academy Awards. But instead of Brando going up to the stage to accept the award, 26-year-old Sacheen Littlefeather went up on behalf of the actor. The presenter, Roger Moore, attempted to hand Littlefeather the golden statue, but she politely declined. Due to the time constraint, she had to improvise an eight-page speech which was prepared herself and alongside Brando just thirty minutes before she got on stage.
Since Oscar speeches had a time limit of 60 seconds, she was not able to read the entire speech but used the little time she had to explain that Marlon Brando could not accept the award due to “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry”, along with the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee, in which two Native Americans were killed.
Despite her composure and respect while on stage, her presence was not welcomed by much of the audience. Seconds into her speech, she was met with a mix of boos and cheers, some allegedly mocking and laughing at her. This year, the Academy came forth with a formal apology to Littlefeather, and the full speech read by her is available to watch on YouTube, uploaded by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
Today, it is common for award shows to be used as platforms to speak about social issues. In 2016, Leonardo DiCaprio, who won his first Oscar for his performance in The Revenant, used his acceptance speech to express the urgent threat of climate change. In 2019, Joaquin Phoenix, who won Best Actor for his performance in Joker, used the duration of his Oscar speech to speak out against animal cruelty. But in 1973, saying anything more than a few “thank yous” during an acceptance speech was unheard of. Sacheen Littlefeather’s determination to be a voice for Native Americans made her the trailblazer in using award show speeches as a platform for calling out injustices and urging change.
Sacheen Littlefeather’s advocacy for indigenous people did not start nor end at the Oscars. Having not been raised in an indigenous community, her advocacy only started in her 20s in 1969, where she would visit the island of Alcatraz, along with dozens of other native American activists. In 1963, the federal prison on the island closed down, and indigenous people wanted the land to return to them in hopes of building a cultural center and a school there. In the 1980s, she took part in founding the American Indian AIDs Institute in San Francisco and spent much of her life working as a caregiver in hospice.
Sacheen Littlefeather passed away on October 2, 2022, at the age of 75. A month prior to her passing, she spoke with San Francisco Chronicle, saying “I spoke my heart, not for me, myself, as an Indian woman, but for we and us, for all Indian people. I didn’t go up there on that stage with a clenched fist, with profanity, yelling and screaming, but with compassion and empathy.”
References
Andrews, Evan. 2018. “When Native American Activists Occupied Alcatraz Island.” HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/native-american-activists-occupy-alcatraz-island-45-years-ago.
Grady, Pam. 2022. “’I spoke my heart’: Sacheen Littlefeather revisits notorious 1973 Oscar speech — days before her death.” SF Chronicle Datebook. https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/i-spoke-my-heart-sacheen-littlefeather-revisits-notorious-1973-oscar-speech-days-before-her-death.
History.com Editors. n.d. AIM occupation of Wounded Knee begins – HISTORY. Accessed October 14, 2022. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/aim-occupation-of-wounded-knee-begins.
“Marlon Brando Academy Awards Acceptance Speech.” n.d. Academy Awards Acceptance Speeches. Accessed October 14, 2022. http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/link/045-1/.
“Sacheen Littlefeather Reads Marlon Brando’s Full 1973 Oscars® Speech.” 2022. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0PViD48uO8.
Sun, Rebecca. 2022. “Sacheen Littlefeather Receives Apology Over 1973 Oscars Mistreatment.” The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sacheen-littlefeather-oscars-apology-1235198863/.
Vermes, Jason. 2022. “A healer and activist, Sacheen Littlefeather was far more than her infamous Oscar moment.” CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved/sacheen-littlefeather-activist-and-healer-1.6605642.