Marlon Brando won Best Actor for his role as Vito Corleone in The Godfather at the 45th Academy Awards on March 27, 1973, and chose not to attend. In his place he sent Sacheen Littlefeather, then 26, an activist who identified as Apache and Yaqui and who had met Brando through her neighbor, Francis Ford Coppola, the director of The Godfather. Brando gave her two instructions: do not touch the statuette, and speak for him.

When presenter Roger Moore held out the Oscar, she raised her hand to refuse it. She told the audience that Brando very regretfully could not accept the award because of the treatment of American Indians by the film industry and on television, and because of recent events at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where members of the American Indian Movement had occupied the town since February 27, 1973. The room answered with a mix of boos and applause, and later presenters Raquel Welch and Clint…