Sisters of Sacheen Littlefeather, an Apache activist who turned down an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, say she wasn’t actually Native American: report

• Sacheen Littlefeather’s sisters told The San Francisco Chronicle that she’s not actually Native American.
• Littlefeather refused an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brandon in 1973 for his role in The Godfather.
• Trudy Orlandi, Littlefeather’s sister, told The Chronicle that Littlefeather “lived in a fantasy”.

The sisters of Sacheen Littlefeather, an actress and activist who turned down an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando in 1973, claimed she wasn’t actually Native American.

“The best way to sum up my sister is that she created a fantasy,” her younger sister, Trudy Orlandi, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “She lived in a fantasy and she died in a fantasy.”

In an opinion column published by the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday, author Jacqueline Keeler interviewed Littlefeather’s sisters, Rosalind Cruz and Trudy Orlandi, who claimed that Littlefeather is not actually Native American.

“It’s a lie,” Orlandi told The Chronicle. “My father was who he was. His family came from Mexico. And my father was born in Oxnard.”

“It’s a scam,” Cruz said, according to The Chronicle. “It’s disgusting to the heritage of tribal peoples. And it’s just… an insult to my parents.”

Littlefeather, who died on October 2 at the age of 75, famously wore a suede dress as she turned down the Best Actor Oscar on behalf of Brando for his starring role in The Godfather.

Littlefeather, whose birth name is Marie Louise Cruz, gave a 60-second speech in which she declined the award on behalf of Brando and denounced Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans, prompting a mixture of boos and cheers from the audience.

“[Brando] It is with great regret that I am unable to accept this very generous award,” Littlefeather said in the speech. “And the reasons for that are the film industry’s and television’s treatment of American Indians in reruns today and also the recent events at Wounded Knee. “

Littlefeather later said that according to The Hollywood Reporter, John Wayne had to be prevented from rushing onto the stage to attack her during her speech.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences wrote an apology to Littlefeather that was released last August, saying that “the abuse you have suffered as a result of this statement was unjustified and unjustified.”

It added: “The emotional toll you have endured and the cost of your own career in our industry is beyond repair. For too long the courage you have shown has not been recognised.”

In response to the Academy’s apology, Littlefeather released a statement, which read: “Regarding the Academy’s apology to me, we Indians are very patient people – it’s only been 50 years!”

According to The Chronicle, Orlandi and Cruz both said their family had no known Native American ancestry and said their family had been identified as “Spanish” on their father’s side.

Tribal officials of the White Mountain Apache told The Chronicle that they had found no record of Littlefeather or her family members ever being enlisted with the White Mountain Apache.

A White Mountain Apache representative did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment Saturday.

Littlefeather’s sisters also told The Chronicle that their claims of growing up in violence and poverty were untrue. Both sisters said their primary motivation for coming forward was to fix the image of their father, whom Littlefeather had painted as a violent alcoholic.

“My father was deaf and lost his hearing to meningitis by the age of 9,” Cruz told The Chronicle. “He was born into poverty. His father, George Cruz, was an alcoholic who was violent and used to hit him. And he was passed on to foster families and foster families.

Cruz and Orlando told The Chronicle that they found out about Littlefeather’s death over the internet and neither of them were invited to her funeral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUAcU0I4yU