Donald Clarke: Sacheen Littlefeather finally gets her Oscars apology

Stupid people say a lot of stupid things about the Oscars. Few people are stupider than those who argue the ceremony was more fun before it got “all political”. You remember. The merry, carefree ceremony of 1978 when Vanessa Redgrave complained about “Zionist hoodlums”. The jolly apolitical bash of 2005 when Michael Moore talked about “fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president”. The easy-going night in 1993 when Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins stood up for Haitians detained at Guantánamo Bay.

A reminder that the Oscars have been political for at least half their existence arrived this week with confirmation that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had sent a letter of apology to Sacheen Littlefeather. It has taken a while. Littlefeather is the Native American woman who declined Marlon Brando’s best actor Oscar for The Godfather in 1973. The actor was boycotting the ceremony in protest at Hollywood’s treatment of Native American people and to draw attention to the then ongoing occupation of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. The Academy will also be hosting a special programme and a conversation entitled An Evening with Sacheen Littlefeather next month.

The incident, easily accessible on YouTube, now seems remarkably civilised. Roger Moore and Liv Ullmann, presenting the award, retreat back politely when Littlefeather reaches the stage and allow her to make a brief statement. It could hardly be more cautiously phrased. “He very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award,” she says of Brando. When she gets to the industry’s treatment of her people, a ripple of boos is followed by a surge of supportive clapping. She ends by hoping that “in the future our hearts and understandings will meet with love and generosity”. After she again thanks the Academy on Brando’s behalf, she is greeted with apparently uncontested applause. “I was distressed that people should have booed and whistled and stomped, even though perhaps it was directed at myself,” Brando later remarked to Dick Cavett. There was some of that, but the response now sounds largely respectful. What exactly is the Academy apologising for?

Well, in the weeks, months and years afterwards, information gradually emerged about ugly responses on the night and later apparent blacklisting. I can remember hearing the widely disseminated and largely believed argument that Littlefeather had no real Native American heritage and had rented her outfit. In truth, though her mother was from a European background, her father was of Apache and Yaqui heritage. “Oh, I got threats,” Littlefeather said. She later found it hard to secure work as an actor.

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The behaviour of celebrities and officials on the night has taken on the quality of legend. It is said that audience members made “tomahawk” gestures. Clint Eastwood, presenting best picture, commented that he was giving the award “on behalf of all the cowboys shot in John Ford westerns over the years”. Which was neither funny nor respectful. As the years have gone on, however, the alleged behaviour of John Wayne (always a scene stealer) has come to dominate discourse around that strange protest.

The subject was much in the digital ether following Will Smith’s wallop at this year’s Oscars. “Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars was pretty horrible, but the Academy’s most horrific show of toxic masculinity came in 1973,” Comic Book Resources argued. Influential pop-culture site The Mary Sue listed John Wayne’s behaviour among five moments “far uglier” than the Slap Heard Around the World. Twitter was clogged with claims that, when set beside the firestorm around Smith, the lack of attention paid to Wayne’s actions looked like racism.

The altered political atmosphere may encourage more presenters and winners to say what they really feel at the podium

This is a bit of a stretch. “During my presentation, he was coming towards me to forcibly take me off the stage, and he had to be restrained by six security men to prevent him from doing so,” Littlefeather told the Guardian in 2021. It is perfectly possible that Wayne would have done something worse than what Smith managed, but, thanks to the now legendary six men, he never got the chance.

Whether or not the conversation around Smith influenced the Academy’s decision, the letter, signed by outgoing president David Rubin, should go some way to shutting down the slippery comparisons. “The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified,” Rubin wrote. “The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable.” Littlefeather responded with the same dignity she had demonstrated nearly 50 years ago. “We Indians are very patient people — it’s only been 50 years!” she said. “We need to keep our sense of humour about this at all times.”

It was worth clearing the air as the Academy has done. We don’t want anyone thumping anyone else, but the altered political atmosphere may encourage more presenters and winners to say what they really feel at the podium. God forbid we return to the boring (actually mythical) days before the Oscars got all political.