Sacheen Littlefeather

Marlon Brando became involved with the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the early 1970s. In 1973, he decided to make a statement about the Wounded Knee incident and contacted AIM about providing a person to accept the Oscar in which he was nominated for his portrayal as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather.

Sacheen Littlefeather was the person chosen to accept Brando’s Oscar as a means of protesting the ongoing siege at Wounded Knee and Hollywood's and television's misrepresentation of American Indians. Brando had written a 15-page speech for Littlefeather to give at the ceremony, but when the producer met her backstage he threatened to physically remove her or have her arrested if she spoke on stage for more than 60 seconds.  Her on-stage comments were therefore improvised. She then went backstage and read the entire speech to the press.