Sacheen Littlefeather declines Marlon Brando’s 1973 Academy Award
(Picture: AP)Late civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather has been accused of lying about her Native American heritage by her two sisters.
Ms Littlefeather, who died aged 75 on October 2, was best known for refusing the 1973 Oscar for best actor on behalf of Marlon Brando.
The Academy, two weeks before she died, held a ceremony for the activist - which she had attended - and apologised for their treatment of Ms Littlefeather who claimed to have been blacklisted in the industry.
But her biological sisters, Rosalind Cruz and Trudy Orlandi, have said her claim to have been of mixed European and Apache-Yaqui heritage is a lie.
Instead, they claim Ms Littlefeather is half-Mexican with ancestry owed to their father’s Spanish roots.
Ms Cruz and Ms Orlandi have also refuted the claim that their father was an abusive alcoholic and that the children were raised in a “shack”.
“It’s disgusting to the heritage of the tribal people,” Ms Cruz told the San Francisco Chronicle, “And it’s just … insulting to my parents.”
She added: “[Our father] was born into poverty. His father, George Cruz, was an alcoholic who was violent and used to beat him. And he was passed to foster homes and family. But my sister Sacheen took what happened to him.”
Ms Littlefeather was known as ‘Deb’ growing up, Ms Cruz added, and was born Maria Louise Cruz - with an investigation showing no Native American ancestry within the family.
Both sisters said they found it troubling to see Ms Littlefeather held up as a “saint” and had assumed her fame would run dry.
Ms Littlefeather said John Wayne had to be held back from attacking her by six security personnel at the 1973 awards - where she refused Mr Brando’s gong for The Godfather. Mr Brando had asked her to make the speech after making her connection through his interest in the Native American movement. She detailed, amid boos and cheers, how he disagreed with Hollywood’s depiction of Native Americans on film.
Accepting an apology from the Academy in September, she said: “I am here accepting this apology. Not only for me alone, but as acknowledgement, knowing that it was not only for me but for all our nations that also need to hear and deserve this apology tonight.
“Now, I would like all the Indian people in this audience to stand. Look at our people, look at each other and be proud that we stand as survivors, all of us.”
