Sacheen Littlefeather who had rejected Marlon Brando's 1973 Oscars was not Native, claim her sisters
File photo of Sacheen Littlefeather
Remember Sacheen Littlefeather, who had famously appeared on stage during the Oscar awards in 1973 and rejected Marlon Brando's Best Actor award for 'The Godfather'? The late activist has been recently termed as a liar and fraud and not a Native - as she always claimed to be by her sisters.
Speaking separately to the San Francisco Chronicle, Trudy Orlandi and Rosalind Cruz shared that they are not ethnically Native American and that the family identifyies itself as "Spanish."
According to the sisters, Littlefeather was born Marie Louise Cruz but changed her name after rediscovering what she purportedly believed was her Native American heritage and becoming active in protests as a young woman. She died on October 2 earlier this year after battling cancer. She was 75.
Brando had rejected the Best Actor award for his iconic performance in 'The Godfather' in solidarity to the Native American community and their rights. He had skipped the ceremony and instead sent little-known actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather to read out a letter of rejection on his behalf.
Since then, Littlefeather claimed she was subjected to intense scrutiny for her actions on Brando's behalf and had shared in the past that the incident caused her to be 'blacklisted' for Hollywood.
Now, her sisters have claimed her actions to be 'fraud'. "It's disgusting to the heritage of the tribal people. And it's just … insulting to my parents."
Both women say they were not invited to the funeral. Their predominant issue with Littlefeather's accounts, they recalled, was her recollection of an abusive childhood.
The sisiters also claimed it was difficult to witness Littlefeather being 'venerated as a saint' after her death and stated that their father was wrongly projected by the late activist. Littlefeather had claimed he was an alcoholic, but the sisters claimed he neither drank nor hurt his children.
"My father was deaf, and he had lost his hearing at 9 years old through meningitis," Cruz said. "He 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."
"You’re not going to be a Mexican American princess," Orlandi remarked. "You’re going to be an American Indian princess. It was more prestigious to be an American Indian than it was to be Hispanic in her mind."
Her younger sister said, "Sacheen did not like herself. She didn’t like being Mexican. So, yes, it was better for her that way to play someone else. … The best way that I could think of summing up my sister is that she created a fantasy. … She lived in a fantasy, and she died in a fantasy."
