Sacheen Cruz Littlefeather was an American actress, model, and Native American civil rights activist died at the age of 75. She was born to a Native American father and a European American mother.
She was born Marie Louise Cruz in Salinas, Calif., became interested in Native American issues in college and participated in the 1970 occupation of Alcatraz Island, adopting her name during that time.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences offered a formal apology for how it treated Littlefeather after the Oscars. Littlefeather attended an in-person presentation of the apology at the Academy Museum on Sept. 17.
At the Oscars, she was only given 60 seconds to read her speech on Native American rights and was then escorted off the stage with audience members booing.
She refused to accept Brando’s award for The Godfather, “And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.
Sacheen Littlefeather Cause Of Death
She had been suffering from breast cancer. It is the cause of the death of Sacheen.
She was only given 60 seconds to read her speech at Oscars on Native American rights and was then escorted off the stage with audience members booing.
“He very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award,” Littlefeather said to the Academy Awards audience in .
“And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry… and on television in movie re-runs, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee.”