American activist and former actress Sachin Little Feather passed away. She died while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She was 75 years old.
It was Little Feather who revealed on stage that Marlon Brando would not accept the 1973 Oscar for 'The Godfather.

The Godfather was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards that year. Marlon Brando turned down the Oscar because of his support for the rights of black people in America and his opposition to the way Hollywood films portrayed them.

Littlefeather's appearance at the 1973 Oscars would become one of the award show's most famous moments. Clad in a buckskin dress and moccasins, Littlefeather took the stage when presenter Roger Moore read Brando's name as the winner for best actor.

Speaking to the audience, Littlefeather cited Native American stereotypes in the film and the then-ongoing weekslong protest at Wounded Knee in South Dakota as the reason for Brando's absence. She said Brando had written "a very long speech" but she was restricted by time to brief remarks.

Producer Howard Koch had allegedly warned Littlefeather, then 26, that he would have her arrested if she spoke for more than a minute.

Although brief, straightforward and courteous, Littlefeather's appearance was contentious, receiving a mix of applause and boos from the audience.

In the years after, Littlefeather endured considerable scorn and abuse for her speech, she said.

"I spoke from my heart," she told the media days after the Oscars. “Those words were written in blood, perhaps my own blood. I felt like Christ carrying the weight of the cross on his shoulders.

Littlefeather was born Marie Cruz on November 14, 1946, in Salinas, California. Her father was from the White Mountain Apache and Yaqui tribes, and her mother was white. Both were saddle makers. They separated when Littlefeather was four, and she was raised by her grandparents after that. After high school, she adopted the name Sachin Littlefeather. Sachin, she said, her father had called her; The surname comes from a feather she often wore in her hair.

Littlefeather's entry into acting corresponded with her activism. She was part of the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969, she said and began acting with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater in the early '70s.

The Academy only allowed Little Feather to speak for sixty seconds at the 1973 Oscars. She was subsequently banned, and fifty years later the Academy apologized to her and organized a ceremony to honour her. The Academy has condoled the demise of Sachin Little Feather.