Sacheen Littlefeather Isn’t Native American, Her Sisters Claim: ‘It Is a Fraud’
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Sacheen Littlefeather – the Native American activist renowned for declining Marlon Brando’s Oscar for “The Godfather” and who died earlier this month – was not in fact Native American, her sisters have claimed, according to writer Jacqueline Keeler.
In an Oct. 22 Opinion column in the San Francisco Chronicle by Keeler – an Indigenous writer who has been investigating individuals she suspects of falsely claiming Native identity since 2021 – Littlefeather’s biological siblings Rosalind Cruz and Trudy Orlandi said that the actress and Native American civil rights icon falsified her Apache and Yaqui heritage.
“It is a fraud,” Cruz said. “It’s disgusting to the heritage of the tribal people. And it’s just … insulting to my parents.”
Littlefeather was born Maria Louise Cruz in 1946 to a white mother and Mexican father. According to Orlandi, their father – who Littlefeather claimed was a member of the White Mountain Apache and Yaqui tribes – was born in Oxnard, California, to Mexican immigrants.
Both sisters, who were not in touch with Littlefeather at the time of her death, confirmed that they had no known Native American heritage, nor did they have any claims of tribal identity.
“Sacheen did not like herself. She didn’t like being Mexican,” stated the elder sister Orlandi. “So, yes, it was better for her that way to play someone else.”
Added Cruz, “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.”
The sisters also said that Littlefeather had been falsifying accounts of a “violent” and “impoverished” childhood since she began publicly identifying as Native American in the early 1970s. In several interviews, she spoke of living in a “shack” and witnessing her alcoholic father abuse her mother. Orlandi and Cruz refuted this narrative, noting that their father Manuel Ybarra Cruz was abused by his alcoholic father as a child.
#NotYourMascot co-founder Jacqueline Keeler wrote that she began her investigation into Littlefeather’s background after she added Littlefeather to her public list of “Alleged Pretendians,” which prompted the sisters to reach out.
Keeler said her investigation of Littlefeather’s father’s side of the family did not reveal any documentation of a connection. She found that all of Littlefeather’s paternal ancestors dating back to the 1880s identified as white, Caucasian or Mexican. White Mountain Apache tribal officials did not find records of Littlefeather or her family either.
In 1973, Marlon Brando sent Littlefeather to refuse his Oscar for his performance in “The Godfather” as an act of protest against the entertainment industry’s portrayal of Native Americans.
Littlefeather’s speech was met with boos, jeers, and subsequent harassment and abuse, leading the Academy to apologize to her 50 years later. On Sept. 17, 2022, the Academy hosted “An Evening With Sacheen Littlefeather” in her honor. The event featured performances by Native American artists, speeches by activists and Academy leadership, and an official statement of apology.
A clip of Littlefeather’s Oscars speech is on permanent display at the Academy Museum’s Academy Awards History gallery.
Littlefeather was a member of the Screen Actors’ Guild and a founding member of the Red Earth Indian Theater Company. She died on Oct. 2 at age 75.
A spokesperson for the Academy Museum declined to comment. TheWrap has reached out to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for comment as well.
This is an ongoing story that will be updated as verified information becomes available.
