John Wayne Tried To Assault The Native American Woman That Declined Marlon Brando's Oscar Award In

[Quixote1818]

The more I hear about John Wayne the more I detest him.

John Wayne Tried To Assault The Native American Woman That Declined Marlon Brando’s Oscar Award In 1973

By Matthew Radulski
January 23, 2022 | 5:00 p.m. CST

When Marlon Brando won his second Academy Award in 1973, he famously did not accept it himself. Sacheen Littlefeather accepted it on his behalf and spoke about the poor treatment of Native Americans. What many do not know is John Wayne took this personally and assaulted her afterward. Here’s what went down.

The 1973 Academy Awards
If ever there was a shoo-in for Best Actor, Brando’s iconic performance in The Godfather would be it. As if to shore up his chances of winning, Al Pacino was relegated to a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in The Godfather. If you believe Burt Reynolds, Deliverance would have won Best Picture had he not posed nude for Cosmopolitan. He may have a point, but The Godfather was and is a legend in its time and since.

Pacino chose to boycott the ceremony over perceived category fraud. Brando, too, decided to protest but for more noble reasons. When his name was read out, 26-year-old Sacheen Littlefeather accepted his Oscar trophy in his stead. Brando was sympathetic to her and the Native American plight and gave her a 15-page speech to read. Since Littlefeather was told she’s only had 60 seconds, she had to improvise.

Making History
These days, political speeches at the Academy Awards are fairly commonplace, but that was not the case in 1973. Littlefeather made history that night, She said her name, and that she was the Apache President of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee. She said of Brando that “he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.”

Littlefeather continued, after a smattering of boos and applause, “I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening, and that we will in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity. Thank you on behalf of Marlon Brando.” She read the full speech, written by Brando, to the press after the ceremony.

More: https://www.suggest.com/john-wayne-sacheen-littlefeather-marlon-brando-godfather-oscars-assault-native-american-woman/2615688/

[CatWoman]

1. what a coincidence

just finished reading a Twitter thread about this

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=pMozLWjBZdrQG2DRXb816A

[SheilaAnn]

4. John Wayne was an obnoxious bully so would expect he was half drunk at this event..n/t

[Peregrine Took]

14. Recall the way he and Jeffrey Hunter treated the Native American "squaw" in "The Searchers?"

Even if it was in the script he certainly seemed to relish abusing her. Either he or Hunter even kicked her at one point.
Disgraceful.

[JohnSJ]

2. Make no mistake about it, Eastwood demonstrated his latent racism there also

[Quixote1818]

10. Yep. I hope he has grown as a person since then. nt

[SoonerPride]

3. John Wayne was a xenophobic sexist piece of trash.

He was also a huge fan of Joseph McCarthy and helped ruin many Hollywood careers.

Wayne detested communism so much that he played a significant role in creating the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA) in 1944 and was voted in as its president in 1949. Although the alliance was officially disbanded in 1975, opponents’ accusations of racism and fascism were thrown at it. Ronald Reagan, Walt Disney and Clark Gable were amongst its members. Even Ayn Rand wrote a pamphlet for the organisation in 1947 that criticised what she saw as subliminal communist propaganda in some Hollywood films.

Wayne was so anti-communist that he was an ardent and vocal supporter of the infamous House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In 1952 he made the political thriller Big Jim McLain, where he starred as a HUAC investigator hunting down communists in the organised labour of post-war Hawaii. This demonstrated his support for the anti-communist hunt.

These personal views also meant that he became a known enforcer of HUAC’s notorious “Black List”, which denied employment and destroyed the careers of many actors and writers who had expressed personal political beliefs that were not in line with HUAC’s. This saw directors such as Sam Wanamaker and Dalton Trumbo blacklisted for “un-American activities.” Other members of the MPA who testified against their peers were Walt Disney, Ronald Reagan and Ginger Rogers.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-hideous-truth-about-hollywood-icon-john-wayne/

[Quixote1818]

8. Yep. Everytime I see him in a movie now I think of how racist he was. nt

[Aristus]

13. Surprised to see Clark Gable in there.

He did some things that were pretty liberal for the time.

[EX500rider]

16. He certainly wasn't xenophobic against Latinos

His three wives included one of Spanish American descent, Josephine Alicia Saenz, and two from Latin America, Esperanza Baur and Pilar Pallete.

[Sneederbunk]

5. Thin on corroboration.

[Cobalt Violet]

6. She was blacklisted from Hollywood after this speech too.

Got to hell John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.

[Eliot Rosewater]

9. Eveyrone remember how much Clint HATED the skin on Obama so much that he did

that ABSURD empty chair bit!

[Tommy Carcetti]

7. John Wayne wasn't just a shitty person...

...he was a shitty actor.

Seriously, his delivery was wooden and one-note. Not sure what his appeal was other than "pseudo tough guy."

[exboyfil]

18. On rewatch I have to agree

He was a bit of a hero for me as a kid. Not sure why. I actually hadn't seen a lot of his movies.

[treestar]

11. Did it come out back then?

Goes to show there is often something that happens at the Oscars. There are likely DU threads ever year on whatever this big deal is for that year.

[czarjak]

12. Clint: seven children by five ex-wives John: alcoholic draft-dodger White Supremocy to spare

[JarOCats]

15. And then there's that 1971 Playboy interview...

"WAYNE: With a lot of blacks, there's quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people."

It gets worse (PDF):

https://www.thewrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/John_Wayne_Playboy_Int2.pdf

[exboyfil]

17. Al Pacino as Best Supporting is category fraud

If anything the two nominations should have been reversed. How the hell did a movie in which the entire crux of the story was Michael Corleone have him as Best Supporting Actor?

I was too young to know about any of this at the time. Didn't see The Godfather until years later.

So the Oscars were sleezy, incompetent, and ineffectual even then.

[Raine]

19. I never could stand phoney "tough guy" John Wayne

always played the brave hero but never even served in the military. Not that military service personally matters to me but to his fans it should've especially in that era.

[milestogo]

20. Talk about entitled.

[gay texan]

21. Nothing screams "tough guy" more

Than a handbag, espadrilles, nut hugger shorts, and a cowboy hat. Total 70's fire island if you ask me....

https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/974axj/john_wayne_vacationing_in_mexico_mid_1960s/


Like ronnie raygun, too chicken shit to actually serve in WW2.

[Raine]

23. Oh gawd what a sight he is 😂

thanks for that link, though that visual is burned into my eyeballs!

[UTUSN]

22. As czarjak post #12 noted: Draft dodger. During WWII when other stars "went."

Supposedly his career was starting to take off and he didn't go because it would break the momentum, although many celebs didn't have that problem.

He had the gall to cruise through a military hospital (during the war?) where he was booed by wounded patients.

He's another bit about how many/most? military/veterans are wingnuts and confuse movie roles with real life. As late as about ten years ago I was chatted up at a VFW post by a dude referring to WAYNE as a combat hero. When I told him about the real story he was aghast, really more about my daring to denigrate a "hero".

By the bye, to this day in that same VFW there is a "Hanoi Jane" sticker at the bottom of a urinal.