Littlefeather

As Lily Gladstone is set to appear at Sunday’s Academy Awards, the first Native American woman nominated for a best actress Oscar, her historic moment could wind up competing for attention with a controversial new development in a case that has made waves in Hollywood and in Native American circles for more than 50 years. A report in a leading Hollywood trade publication seeks to shed new light on the case of Sacheen Littlefeather, the late Bay Area activist who made global headlines at the 1973 Oscars when, dressed in a…

In a new twist in the ethnic fraud allegations against Sacheen Littlefeather, a prominent filmmaker in Native American circles who organized a film industry celebration of the late Bay Area activist as a Native American icon, has herself been accused of faking claims of Cherokee heritage. The New York Post and other outlets are reporting on allegations made against Heather Rae, who produced “Frozen River” and other films and who serves on the Indigenous Alliance of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The…

Oscar winner Mira Sorvino is speaking out against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for omitting her father, the late great character actor Paul Sorvino, from the “In Memoriam” segment that was played on the show Sunday night. The “Goodfellas” star, who died in July at age 83, was relegated to an online tribute page on the Academy’s website, as were “Wag the Dog” star Anne Heche and Charlbi Dean, the South African star of this year’s best picture nominee, “Triangle of Sadness.” These three actors and several…

As the Oscars approach Sunday night, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed it had created “a crisis team” that it hopes will prevent another fiasco like last year when Will Smith rushed on stage and slapped Chris Rock in front of a live global TV audience. However, the Academy has refused to address another ongoing controversy: The potent ethnic fraud allegations against Sacheen Littlefeather, which have raised questions about the organization’s commitment to historical accuracy in its glittery new  …

Before the sisters of Sacheen Littlefeather came forward in a damning report over the weekend to allege that the late activist was an “ethnic fraud” who faked her Native American ancestry, a film historian raised other questions about her adherence to the truth. The historian, Farran Smith Nehme, challenged aspects of the claim made by Littlefeather and others that John Wayne threatened to assault her at the 1973 Academy Awards, after she famously took to the stage to refuse Marlon Brando’s best actor Oscar to protest the…

The Academy Awards ceremony has always tried to avoid controversy, but on 27 March 1973, during the first Oscars show broadcast by satellite around the world, Sacheen Littlefeather came to the dais to receive the best actor award on behalf of Marlon Brando.Littlefeather raised a hand to decline the Oscar statue being presented by Roger Moore. She held up an eight-page speech Brando had written for her, but she had been told by the show’s producer, Howard W Koch, that she would have only 60 seconds to speak, or else be…

Sacheen Littlefeather, the activist who famously stood in for Marlon Brando to refuse the best actor Oscar in 1973, faked Native American ancestry, her family have said.In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Littlefeather’s sisters Rosalind Cruz and Trudy Orlandi said that their sister’s claim to have Apache and Yaqui ancestry through her father was “a lie” and “a fantasy”.Orlandi told the Chronicle: “It’s a lie. My father was who he was. His family came from Mexico. And my dad was born in Oxnard .” Cruz added: “It…

Three weeks after Sacheen Littlefeather’s passing, a writer has come forward with claims that the celebrated activist and former actress spent her life fraudulently posing as a Native American. Littlefeather died on Oct. 2 of metastasized breast cancer at age 75. In a piece published in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Open Forum opinion section on Saturday, Jacqueline Keeler (Diné/Dakota) alleges that Littlefeather, who cemented her pop culture legacy when she took the stage at the 1973 Academy Awards to…

Sacheen Littlefeather‘s death has prompted a wave of tributes to the actor and activist, arguably best known for her 1973 Oscars speech. At the ceremony, Littlefeather appeared in Marlon Brando’s place to reject his Academy Award for Best Actor, for his performance in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. Standing onstage in front of the biggest stars of Hollywood, the 26-year-old instead delivered a speech condemning the film industry’s poor representation of Native American people. She also highlighted the events at…

Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American actress and activist who made history when she declined the Best Actor Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, has died at the age of 75. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced her death on Monday in a post shared on Twitter. Actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather was blacklisted from the entertainment industry after refusing Marlon Brando’s 1973 Oscar on his behalf.(Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)  The tweet, accompanied by an image of the Apache and Yaqui…