Who is Sacheen Littlefeather, the Indian who turned down the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando?

On March 27, 1973, at the request of Marlon Brando, she took the stage in Apache attire at the Oscar ceremony and gave a short speech to draw attention to the Indian issue and especially the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Marlon Brando won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1973 for the movie "The Father". However, on March 27, 1973, when the Oscar awards ceremony was held, an unexpected guest appeared on the stage when Marlon Brando's name was pronounced during the ceremony. That name was Sacheen Littlefeather...

Although Littlefeather's speech on the stage was tried to be prevented by the officials, the young Indian managed to attract the desired attention with a few words she managed to say and went down in Oscar history.

A young Indian girl named Sacheen Littlefeather announced to the whole world that Marlon Brando refused the Oscar award, and shared the actor's message to the world that "the film industry did not accept the award on the grounds that it was insensitive to the problems of Native Americans". However, Littlefeather faced boos and racist rhetoric after the incident.

Sacheen Littlefeather stated that she had colon cancer in 1999. In March 2018, Littlefeather said she has breast cancer. 2021 It was announced that Littlefeather's cancer had metastasized to her right lung.

In 2022, the Oscar Academy announced that it had apologized to Littlefeather for the events that took place on stage 50 years ago. Regarding the apology, Littlefeather said, “We locals are very patient people, I just had to wait 50 years! We always need to keep our sense of humor alive, that's the way we survive, ”she said.

The letter of apology, signed by Oscar Academy President David Rubin, sent to the actor, stating that the insults Littlefeather inflicted that night were "unjustified and unwarranted" and said "The emotional burden you have inflicted and the cost to your own career in our industry cannot be compensated". Underlining that the actor's courage was "ignored" for a long time, Oscar Academy said, "For this, we offer you both our deepest apologies and our most sincere admiration."