Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

The truth (with pictures) of what happened at the 1972 Oscars.

John Wayne did not threaten to attack Littlefeather. There were no six security men restraining the already somewhat frail actor waiting to go on a few minutes later to end the show in song, and no armed guards escorting her off stage, just presenters Roger Moore and Liv Ullmann. The myth began with the show's director, Marty Pasetta after Wayne's death. Wayne himself had been critical of Brando in interviews but never of Littlefeather who he described as some unknown girl Brando dressed up in an Indian outfit.

https://selfstyledsiren.substack.com/p/ ... curity-men

Here is a fascinating excerpt from Wikipedia about how Littlefeather got to know Brando:

"Accounts of how Littlefeather initially met Brando vary. In one of her first interviews after the speech, she mentioned that they met "through his interest in the Indian movement."[40] An account from the night of the Oscar ceremony describes Francis Ford Coppola observing Littlefeather on a TV monitor backstage and stating "Sacheen Littlefeather. She lives in San Francisco. She's a friend of mine that I introduced to B . . . She's an Indian princess."[41]

A 1974 article about a Littlefeather interview stated that she was working for a San Francisco radio station when she applied for work with Coppola and that he then referred her to Brando, "knowing Brando's interest in the Indian." At the time of the Oscars, she had known Brando for nearly a year.[42] Later accounts describe Coppola as Littlefeather's neighbor in San Francisco.[43][44]

In a 2021 interview, Littlefeather said that she got to know Coppola while hiking the hills of San Francisco and she got Brando's address from him after she wrote Brando a letter, asking about his interest in Native American issues. In that account, he called the radio station where she worked months after she sent the letter.[45] Littlefeather has also said that she met Brando in Washington, D.C., where she was presenting to the Federal Communications Commission about minorities.[4]"

She honorably spoke the truth and was treated abominably. Yes, this apology is long overdue.

The Oscar notoriety also got her a Playboy magazine spread.

It's appropriate, and yes, long overdue. Brando was forgiven immediately with more awards including an additional Oscar nomination the very next year, but she was ostracized.

The anger at the time, though, wasn't really directed at the actress but the actor who sent an emissary to decline his Oscar, something that he could and should have done himself.

Although she was an activist - she had been one of the Wounded Knee protestors in 1969 - she was not known for her acting. All that was known about her at the time was that she was born Maria Cruz and won the Miss American Vampire contest in 1970. It was reported, incorrectly, that she was a Mexican born actress. Although Cruz was her birth name, she was not Mexican. Cruz was her father's tribal family name. Her mother was Caucasian. She was labeled an opportunist.

She did act in an occasional film for the remainder of the 1970s, but she never became a star. Whether that was because of her infamy at the Oscars, the lack of roles in general for indigenous people or that she wasn't a particularly good actress are questions for another day.

Story.

Any thoughts on this?