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Outlook: A scandal at the Oscars: Marlon Brando and me

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Sacheen Littlefeather Refuses Marlon Brando's Academy Award

16/11/2020 GMT

A scandal at the Oscars: Marlon Brando and me

BBC World Service - Outlook, A scandal at the Oscars: Marlon Brando and me

Sacheen Littlefeather stood in front of 85 million people to reject Marlon Brando's Oscar

When Marlon Brando won an Oscar for The Godfather in 1973 he asked Native American actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather to go on stage and reject it on his behalf.

When Hollywood legend, Marlon Brando won a Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Godfather in 1973, he chose not to accept it. Instead he asked a young Native American woman called Sacheen Littlefeather to go on stage, in front of a televised audience of 85 million people and reject it on his behalf. It was the first time someone had made a political point at the Oscars and would have a profound effect on Sacheen's life and future. Now in her 70s and living with stage four breast cancer, Sacheen tells Jo Fidgen about her controversial speech.
 
Sacheen Littlefeather is the subject of a documentary called Sacheen: Breaking the Silence.
 
When Jung Hoon's parents moved back to North Korea in the 1960s, it was to a life they had not been sold. They were of Korean descent, but the family had been living in Japan from the time that Korea was under Japanese rule. They were not having the greatest time - and in the 1960s, North Korea had this propaganda campaign to encourage ethnic Koreans to come back. The campaign described the country as a kind of utopia - but when they got there and saw the reality, it was too late to change their minds. Jung Hoon spoke to Outlook's Je Seung Lee about his family's experience and life in North Korea. 
 
(Photo: Sacheen Littlefeather refuses Marlon Brando's Academy Award)
Credit: Getty Images

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