Why did Sacheen Littlefeather refuse Oscar?

Sacheen Littlefeather refused Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando. Marlon Brando won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Godfather on March 27, 1973, but it was not the famous actor who ascended the stage that night.

Sacheen Littlfeather, an Apache and Yaqui actor and activist, took his place. Wearing a buckskin dress and moccasins, she solemnly stated that Brando could not accept the award

“very regretfully” due to the “treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.”
Littlefeather, unfazed, pointed out that Brando’s rejection of the Oscar was also influenced by Native American activists’ occupation of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, which had begun several weeks earlier.

Littlefeather recently told Variety what it was like to attend the Oscars on Brando’s behalf.

“This was my first time attending the Academy Awards.” I overcame my first challenge by promising Marlon Brando that I would not touch the Oscar.

But I walked off that stage with courage, honour, grace, dignity, and truthfulness. I did so in the ways of my foremothers and Indigenous women.

Sacheen Littlefeather passed away on Sunday, October 2, 2022, at the age of 75 from breast cancer.