Academy Apologizes to Sacheen Littlefeather for 1973 Oscars’ Marlon Brando Moment; Museum Will Host Special Program in September
Clayton Davis When Marlon Brando was named best actor for his performance as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s best picture winner “The Godfather” (1972), a 26-year-old Sacheen Littlefeather (Apache/Yaqui/AZ) took the stage to decline the prize on behalf of the actor. She was lambasted with an avalanche of boos from the audience, racist gestures such as “tomahawk chops” and threatened with violence offstage.Fifty years later, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is apologizing for the treatment she received that evening, in addition to holding a special program and conversation titled “An Evening with Sacheen Littlefeather” on Sept.