Sacheen Littlefeather, an American civil rights activist who declined Marlon Brando’s Best Actor Academy Award in 1973, died on October 2, 2022, at the age of 75.
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Sacheen Littlefeather was born Marie Louise Cruz in Salinas, California to a Native American father and European American mother.
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She became interested in Native American issues in college and participated in the 1970 occupation of Alcatraz Island.
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After college, she also joined the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and met Brando to solve native American issues.
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In 1973, Littlefeather stood on the Academy Awards stage on behalf of Brando and refused to accept it against the American Indian Movement.
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Although she got small roles in films such as “The Trial of Billy Jack”, and “Shoot the Sun Down”, she was blacklisted from Hollywood in the aftermath of her Oscars address.
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In 2018, it was reported that Littlefeather had developed stage 4 breast cancer. But the cause of her death is still unknown.
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A documentary film about her life and activism, “Sacheen Breaking the Silence,” was released in 2021.