When Brando gained greatest actor for “The Godfather,” Littlefeather, carrying buckskin costume and moccasins, took the stage in his place.
NEW YORK — Almost 50 years after Sacheen Littlefeather stood on the Academy Awards stage on behalf of Marlon Brando to talk about the depiction of Native Individuals in Hollywood movies, the Academy of Movement Photos Arts and Sciences apologized to her for the abuse she endured.
The Academy Museum of Movement Photos on Monday stated that it’ll host Littlefeather, now 75, for a night of “dialog, therapeutic and celebration” on Sept. 17.
When Brando gained greatest actor for “The Godfather,” Littlefeather, carrying buckskin costume and moccasins, took the stage, changing into the primary Native American lady ever to take action on the Academy Awards. In a 60-second speech, she defined that Brando couldn’t settle for the award because of “the therapy of American Indians at the moment by the movie business.”
Some within the viewers booed her. John Wayne, who was backstage on the time, was reportedly livid. The 1973 Oscars have been held in the course of the American Indian Motion’s two-month occupation of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. Within the years since, Littlefeather has stated she’s been mocked, discriminated towards and personally attacked for her temporary Academy Awards look.
In making the announcement, the Academy Museum shared a letter despatched June 18 to Littlefeather by David Rubin, academy president, concerning the iconic Oscar second. Rubin referred to as Littlefeather’s speech “a robust assertion that continues to remind us of the need of respect and the significance of human dignity.”
“The abuse you endured due to this assertion was unwarranted and unjustified,” wrote Rubin. “The emotional burden you might have lived by way of and the fee 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.”
Littlefeather, in a press release, stated it’s “profoundly heartening to see how a lot has modified since I didn’t settle for the Academy Award 50 years in the past.”
“Relating to the Academy’s apology to me, we Indians are very affected person individuals — it’s solely been 50 years!” stated Littlefeather. “We have to preserve our humorousness about this always. It’s our methodology of survival.”
On the Academy Museum occasion in Los Angeles, Littlefeather will sit for a dialog with producer Chook Runningwater, co-chair of the academy’s Indigenous Alliance.
In a podcast earlier this yr with Jacqueline Stewart, a movie scholar and director of the Academy Museum, Littlefeather mirrored on what compelled her to talk out in 1973.
“I felt that there needs to be Native individuals, Black individuals, Asian individuals, Chicano individuals — I felt there needs to be an inclusion of everybody,” stated Littlefeather. “A rainbow of those who needs to be concerned in creating their very own picture.”
