Browse Items (10 total)

Raquel Welch and Gene Hackman present Liza Minnelli with the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Cabaret. In their introduction, Welch makes reference to Littlefeather's speech, which had just taken place. The transcript of the video is included below:

RW: To all of us, the ladies we have just seen are unforgettable players. To me, they are more than that: they are friends.

GH: At the risk of increasing the suspense for our friends, I'd like to take a moment just to say something. The conventional wisdom is that you're born with talent. Maybe that's so, but talent is unusable and wasted without work, dedication, and a deep feeling for others. The truly talented ladies nominated for best performance by an actress are:

RW: Liza Minnelli in Cabaret. 

GH: Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues.

RW: Maggie Smith in Travels With My Aunt.

GH: Cicely Tyson in Sounder.

RW: Liv Ullmann in The Emigrants.

GH: And the winner is.

RW: Hope they haven't got a cause.

GH: Liza Minnelli.

LM: Thank you. Thank you very much. Making the film of "Cabaret" was one of the happiest times of my whole life and I would like to thank everybody connected with it but most especially the artistic staff: Mr. Fosse, and Fred Ebb and John Kander. And thank you for giving me this award. You've made me very happy.

This item is a newspaper article by William F. Buckley published in the Minneapolis Tribune which provides an overview of Brando’s refusal of the Oscar, his activism at Wounded Knee, and Hollywood’s representation of Indigenous Americans. The tone is unserious and mocking, and the author appears disdainful of Brando in particular, writing that he has decided to become "Mr. Jane Fonda" and concluding that "the poor Indians" should be "spared the patronage of Marlon Brando."

This item is a collection of letters to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times reacting to Brando’s refusal of the Oscar and Littlefeather’s statement. The letters are authored by Robert S. Birchard, Thomas L. Gillette, Mrs. John E. Grauman, and Suzanne Lego. The statements written by Birchard and Grauman express distaste for Brando's unwillingness to give his statement in person, instead sending "a woman to do a man's job," as well as his use of the Oscars as a political platform. On the other side of the debate, Gillette compares the audience's "puny response" to the "greatness" of Brando, and Lego calls out the "small-mindedness and bigotry in America" displayed by presenters Raquel Welch and Clint Eastwood in their responses to Brando and Littlefeather.

This item is a video of Sacheen Littlefeather refusing the Academy Award for Best Actor on behalf of Marlon Brando. The transcript of the video is included below:

SL: Hello. My name is Sacheen Littlefeather. I'm Apache and I am president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee. I'm representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech, which I cannot share with you presently because of time but I will be glad to share with the press afterwards, that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry – excuse me – and on television in movie reruns, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee. I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening and that we will in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity. Thank you on behalf of Marlon Brando.

This item is a brief newspaper profile of Sacheen Littlefeather, providing an overview of her career and activism, as well as her involvement in Brando’s refusal of the Oscar. The piece identifies her as being "part Apache," and describes her involvement in the Affirmative Image Committee, the National American Indian Council, and the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1970, and quotes part of her televised statement during the Oscars ceremony.

This item is an edited interview with Sacheem Littlefeather, reflecting on her role in the 1973 Oscars ceremony. Littlefeather describes why she chose to refuse the Oscar, her relationship with Marlon Brando, and her work as an activist. Though she remarks that she would do it again "in a heartbeat," Littlefeather also notes the racism she faced from the film industry in the aftermath of her activism, and her subsequent surprise when the Academy issued its apology in 2022.

A press release and letter published by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announcing an evening with Sacheen Littlefeather to reconcile and heal from her past mistreatment at the Academy Awards. The letter officially apologizes for her experience at the 1973 Academy Awards ceremony, and acknowledges her important role in film history. The content of the letter is included below:

June 18, 2022

Dear Sacheen Littlefeather,

I write to you today a letter that has been a long time coming on behalf of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with humble acknowledgment of your experience at the 45th Academy Awards.

As you stood on the Oscars stage in 1973 to not accept the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, in recognition of the misrepresentation and mistreatment of Native American people by the film industry, you made a powerful statement that continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity.

The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified. The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. For this, we offer both our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration.

We cannot realize the Academy's mission to "inspire imagination and connect the world through cinema" without a commitment to facilitating the broadest representation and inclusion reflective of our diverse global population.

Today, nearly 50 years later, and with the guidance of the Academy’s Indigenous Alliance, we are firm in our commitment to ensuring indigenous voices—the original storytellers—are visible, respected contributors to the global film community. We are dedicated to fostering a more inclusive, respectful industry that leverages a balance of art and activism to be a driving force for progress.

We hope you receive this letter in the spirit of reconciliation and as recognition of your essential role in our journey as an organization. You are forever respectfully engrained in our history.

With warmest regards,

David Rubin
President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Clint Eastwood presents the Academy Award for Best Picture to The Godfather. In his introduction, Eastwood makes reference to Littlefeather's speech. The transcript of the video is included below:

CE: I don't know if I should present this award on behalf of all the cowboys shot in all the John Ford westerns over the years.

I've seen all five nominated pictures as I'm sure all of you have, and they're all so excellent and so different, I'd have a hard time choosing one without feeling I'd been unfair to the others. And so it occurred to me that as different as they seem - 'go ahead and flip the card man, I'm still here' - they all have something in common. They're all concerned with the human dilemma and our confrontation with fate. Human beings engulfed in a lunatic dictatorship. Men brutalized by their fellow men on a hostile river. Families ripping up their old roots and hoping to plant new ones. And quite different families too who seek to prove that morality can exist within immorality. And finally, a mother, a father, three children , and a dog, who ask only to live in the dignity of which all life is entitled. These are diverse and distinguished pictures, and they are:

Cabaret, an ABC Pictures Production, Allied Artists, Cy Feuer, Producer.

Deliverance, Warner Brothers, produced by John Boorman.

The Emigrants, A.B. Svensk Filmindustri Production, Warner Brothers, Bengt Forslund, producer.

The Godfather, an Albert S. Ruddy production, Paramount, Albert S. Ruddy, producer.

Sounder, a Radnitz/Mattel productions, Twentieth Century Fox, Robert B. Radnitz, producer.

And the winner- and the winner is:

Albert S. Ruddy, Godfather.

AR: Don't fail me now! We were all getting nervous there for a moment. Let me do this quickly in two parts, because I know it's past midnight in New York and some of my relatives want to go to sleep.

There are a number of people I would like to thank, as everyone else would, because they deserve it. Bob Evans, for giving more than any studio head should in time and creativity. Frank Yablans, for having the courage and imagination to sell this film and make my mother rich. Charlie Bluhdorn, for having the courage to finance films, which I guess borders on insanity. And Peter Bart, who was a friend all the way through.

Now last off, there's millions of people who sit out there and people who love film and want to make film that will look at this [holding up the Oscar] and wonder what it's all about. America needs the motion picture business and the motion picture business needs the United States. Good audiences need good films as good films need good audiences. The American dream and what we all want, for me at least, is represented by this [holding up the Oscar]. It's there for everybody if we want to work, dream and try to get it. Thank you very much.

This item is a newspaper article by Michael Kilian commenting on Marlon Brando’s refusal of the Oscar. The piece criticizes Littlefeather for “exploiting herself” by the roles she has taken and mocks Brando for succumbing to "self righteous self importance," in addition to calling out the alleged hypocrisy of the Indigenous activists occupying Wounded Knee, SD. Overall, the article does not appear to take Littlefeather, Brando, or the American Indian Movement seriously, nor does it view Hollywood as an appropriate venue for political action.

A Los Angeles Times article containing the text of the speech Marlon Brando provided Sacheen Littlefeather to be read upon his refusal of the Academy Award. The speech was not read during the ceremony due to time limitations, but Littlefeather read it to the press after the ceremony and its contents was published in several major newspapers. In the statement, Brando writes that while he does not wish to insult the Academy or its members, he would like to "focus attention" on the mistreatment of Indigenous Americans by the United States and their negative representation by Hollywood. While there have been attempts to redress the situation, Brando states that they are "too faltering and too few so I as a member in this profession do not feel that I can as a citizen of the United States accept an award here tonight." He concludes the statement by thanking the audience for their "kindness and courtesy" to Littlefeather, assuming that she would be well-receieved at the Oscars ceremony.