Sacheen Littlefeather gets apology for abuse by John Wayne, others at 1973 Oscars

Nearly 50 years later, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apologized to Indigenous actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who was almost attacked onstage by John Wayne and faced heckling and harassment by others when she refused Marlon Brando’s best actor award for “The Godfather.”

The Academy has offered Littlefeather, 75, an apology for being booed, mocked with so-called “tomahawk chops” offstage, and threatened with arrest and physical assault, when she spoke out on behalf of Native American rights at the 45th Academy Awards in 1973, The Hollywood Reporter said. The apology comes ahead of the Academy honoring her at an event next month.

“When I was at the podium in 1973, I stood there alone,” Littlefeather said of appearing on stage to turn down Brando’s Oscar on his behalf. At Brando’s request, she refused the award to protest the negative stereotyping of Native Americans in the film and TV industry and to call attention to the recent standoff at Wounded Knee where American Indian Movement activists occupied a South Dakota town to protest the mistreatment Native Americans in U.S. history and culture.

Littlefeather’s speech on the night that “The Godfather” also was honored as best picture, created one of the most stunning and surprising moments in Academy history and in the history of live television.

“(Brando) very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award,” Littlefeather graciously began her speech, which she had to improvise because she was told she had to limit the actor’s eight pages of prepared remarks to 60 seconds. The audience began to boo when Littlefeather said, “The reasons for this … are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.”

Littlefeather told The Hollywood Reporter that her speech resulted in immediate and enduring personal backlash, including by Wayne. The Hollywood legend was associated with a number of Westerns, including John Ford’s classic “The Searchers,” where Wayne’s character participated in the on-screen slaughter Native Americans.

Littlefeather said Wayne had to be restrained from storming the stage to physically attack her, according to THR. Her reputation and integrity also were denigrated over the decades, with comedian Dennis Miller even mocking U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2012, calling her “as much Indian as that stripper chick Brando sent to pick up his Oscar.”

Littlefeather, who had acted in a few films before her appearance at the Oscars, told THR that the U.S. government threatened to shut down any talk shows or productions that featured her on air.

“You know, I never stood up onstage in 1973 for any kind of accolades,” Littlefeather told THR. “I only stood there because my ancestors were with me, and I spoke the truth.”

Littlefeather, who is Apache and Yaqui, told THR she is living with metastasized breast cancer and imagines that her late husband, Charles Koshiway, who died of cancer in November, may be on “the other side,” talking to some of the people at the awards ceremony who stood by as others heckled and harassed her.

Littlefeather said she is sure that her late husband’s “first target ” on “the other side” was Wayne, who died in 1979 of cancer.

In the apology letter sent to Littlefeather in June, then-Academy president David Rubin wrote: “The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified. The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. For this, we offer both our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration.”