The year was 1973. A watershed moment unfolded at the Academy Awards, forever etching itself into the annals of Hollywood history and sparking a debate that continues to resonate decades later. Marlon Brando, a titan of the silver screen, was awarded the Best Actor Oscar for his iconic portrayal of Vito Corleone in "The Godfather." However, instead of accepting the golden statuette himself, Brando chose to make a powerful statement about the portrayal of American Indians in film and television. He sent Sacheen Littlefeather, a young, Native American activist and aspiring actress, to the stage to decline the award on his behalf. This act, intended as a protest against the stereotypical and often demeaning representations of Native Americans, ignited a firestorm of controversy that continues to smolder even today.
Almost four decades later, the embers of that controversy were fanned once again on the August 27th airing of NBC’s "Tonight Show." Host Jay Leno engaged in a conversation with comedian and political commentator Dennis Miller, and the topic veered into the realm of political discourse, specifically focusing on Massachusetts senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren, who had faced scrutiny regarding her claims of Native American ancestry.
The exchange unfolded as follows:
Miller: "Elizabeth Warren? Is that the chick that says she’s an Indian?"
Leno [chuckling]: "Well, yeah, no."
Miller: "She’s about as much Indian as that stripper chick Brando sent to pick up his Oscar for The Godfather, all right?"
Leno: "Check that reference! Hang on, you mean Shawsheen [sic] Littlefeather?"
Miller [audience laughter]: "Sacheen Littlefeather. Of course I remember!"
Leno: "1971 was that? Oh my God!"
Miller: "You know, I sent the Warren campaign a donation today, but just to piss her off I sent it in beads."
This seemingly off-the-cuff exchange, laced with sarcasm and derogatory undertones, served as a stark reminder that harmful stereotypes about Native Americans, particularly Native American women, persist within the entertainment industry and broader society. Miller’s comments, compounded by the laughter of the studio audience, underscored the insidious nature of these prejudices.
Adding fuel to the fire, in the weeks following Miller’s appearance on "The Tonight Show," staffers working for Senator Scott Brown, Warren’s political opponent, were recorded engaging in racially insensitive behavior. They were taped performing tomahawk chops and war whoops, mocking Warren’s heritage and further perpetuating harmful stereotypes. These actions highlighted a disturbing trend of using racial slurs and caricatures to undermine individuals and deny their Native American identity – a particularly insidious form of racism that is often amplified when directed towards women, especially those in the public eye like Elizabeth Warren and, as this incident demonstrates, TV Slur Revives Debate About Sacheen Littlefeather and Her Role in Marlon Brando’s Oscar Refusal.
The core of the initial controversy stems from Marlon Brando’s decision to leverage his platform and celebrity to raise awareness about the injustices faced by Native Americans. Brando specifically asked Sacheen Littlefeather, a young woman deeply involved in Native American activism, to represent him at the Academy Awards. His intention was to protest the film industry’s history of perpetuating harmful stereotypes and to express solidarity with American Indian activists who were, at that very moment, engaged in a tense standoff with the FBI at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
When Brando was announced as the winner of the Best Actor award, Littlefeather ascended the stage, adorned in traditional Native American regalia, a visual statement in itself. She delivered a brief, yet powerful, speech explaining Brando’s reasons for declining the prestigious award. Brando had meticulously prepared a 15-page statement outlining his concerns and demands. However, the Academy Awards producer, concerned about the length of the speech, threatened to have Littlefeather arrested if she attempted to read the entire statement. Instead, she was given a mere 60 seconds to convey Brando’s message.
Under immense pressure and without the benefit of a prepared script, Littlefeather eloquently articulated Brando’s position. She introduced herself as the president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee and explained that Brando could not accept the award due to the film industry’s mistreatment and misrepresentation of American Indians, as well as the ongoing crisis at Wounded Knee.
According to Littlefeather, the atmosphere backstage was fraught with tension. She recounted that John Wayne, a symbol of American Westerns often criticized for their portrayal of Native Americans, was visibly angered by her speech and had to be physically restrained from confronting her on stage.
Following the televised ceremony, Littlefeather held a press conference where she read Brando’s full statement, which was subsequently published in its entirety by The New York Times, ensuring that Brando’s message reached a wider audience.
However, Littlefeather’s act of solidarity came at a significant personal cost. She claims she was immediately blacklisted in Hollywood, her burgeoning acting career effectively derailed. She endured a barrage of death threats and became the target of misinformation campaigns in the media. One particularly damaging rumor claimed that her Native American dress worn at the Oscars was rented, a falsehood that sought to undermine the authenticity of her representation. In reality, the dress was her Northern Traditional pow wow dance outfit, a deeply personal and culturally significant garment.
Littlefeather has also alleged that the FBI actively worked to discredit her and suppress her career. She claimed that friends in the film industry told her they were visited by FBI agents who threatened to put them out of business if they hired her. This alleged interference aligns with the FBI’s documented history of infiltrating and disrupting social movements during that era, including the American Indian Movement, as part of its broader counterintelligence program.
The most pervasive and enduring lie perpetuated about Sacheen Littlefeather was the denial of her Native American heritage, a misconception that continues to surface even today, as evidenced by the Leno-Miller exchange. Miller’s derogatory reference to her as a "stripper" was a deliberate attempt to further discredit her character and dismiss her message. This remark likely alluded to a photo shoot she had participated in for Playboy magazine the year before her Academy Awards appearance.
Littlefeather has vehemently denied the "stripper" label. She explained that she was paid to keep her clothes on and that the photo shoot, intended to be a spread called "10 Little Indians," was ultimately canceled by Playboy editors due to the Wounded Knee confrontation. However, a year later, the magazine published the photos of Littlefeather, capitalizing on her newfound notoriety.
Sacheen Littlefeather, born Marie Cruz in Salinas, California, is of mixed heritage. She was primarily raised by her mother’s Caucasian family, but her father was a full-blood American Indian of mixed White Mountain Apache and Yaqui descent.
In a 2010 interview with Native American Times, Littlefeather shared that she began actively exploring her Native American identity during her college years at California State University at Hayward. She became involved with the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland and participated in the Alcatraz Island occupation, a pivotal moment in the Native American rights movement. During this time, she connected with influential Native American leaders such as Wilma Mankiller, John Trudell, and Anthony Garcia, and received mentorship from Adam Fortunate Eagle and Don Patterson, tribal president of the Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma.
A long-time resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, Littlefeather is a respected figure within the Native American community. She has served as head woman dancer at numerous pow wows and is recognized for her work in health-care education within the Native community.
In the 1980s, she collaborated with Mother Teresa, providing care to AIDS patients in hospice, which led to her becoming a founding board member of the American Indian AIDS Institute of San Francisco.
In 1981, she worked for the Kiowa tribe in Oklahoma and wrote a health-related column for the tribal newspaper. She has contributed to the production of numerous Native American films, even sharing an Emmy Award in 1984 for her work on PBS’s "Dance in America: A Song for Dead Warriors," a ballet based on the life of Richard Oakes, a leader of the Alcatraz occupation. She is also a co-coordinator of the Kateri Prayer Circle of San Francisco.
More recently, she appeared in the acclaimed documentary "Reel Injun," where she discussed her experience at the Academy Awards and Marlon Brando’s motivation to raise awareness about the unfair treatment of American Indians.
In the film, Russell Means, a prominent figure in the American Indian Movement, recalled being at Wounded Knee and watching the Academy Awards ceremony. He stated that Brando and Sacheen Littlefeather’s actions provided a significant morale boost to those involved in the standoff, who were facing dire circumstances and uncertain futures.
The Leno-Miller segment regarding TV Slur Revives Debate About Sacheen Littlefeather and Her Role in Marlon Brando’s Oscar Refusal largely escaped widespread media attention, partly due to Littlefeather’s decision to delay her response.
Having recently battled breast cancer and officially entered remission, Littlefeather explained that the cancer treatments had left her physically weakened and vulnerable to stress. She stated that the Leno-Miller conversation deeply disturbed her, triggering an episode of internal bleeding that required medical intervention.
In response to the incident, she wrote a letter of protest to Leno and launched a campaign demanding an apology. However, her letter was met with silence, and The New York Times declined to publish a letter written on her behalf by her longtime friend, Priscilla Burgess.
Even high-profile feminist lawyer Gloria Allred declined to represent her, instead referring her to a lawyer in Los Angeles who offered representation for a fee of $150,000. The silence and the slurs highlight how deeply embedded the stereotypes are, and why TV Slur Revives Debate About Sacheen Littlefeather and Her Role in Marlon Brando’s Oscar Refusal.