Real reason John Wayne had to be restrained at 1973 Oscars – Movies – Entertainment
John Wayne was reportedly left livid (Image: Getty)
If you thought Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars brought about a stir, think about your self lucky to have averted witnessing John Wayne’s close to stage-dashing incident again in 1973. The western legend, celebrated for movies like True Grit, had to be bodily held again by six safety personnel when viewers members started booing in the course of the ceremony.
That yr marked Marlon Brando’s Best Actor victory for The Godfather. However, Brando declined to attendsending activist Sacheen Littlefeather in his place, who appeared in conventional Apache apparel. She turned down Brando’s award and used the platform to draw consideration to the Wounded Knee Occupation.
During that interval, roughly 200 Oglala Lakota people had occupied the city of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, demanding the US authorities honor its damaged treaties with Native American tribes and addressing considerations surrounding Richard Wilson’s impeachment.
Sacheen Littlefeather was later delivered an apology (Image: Getty)
Wayne was offended by the scenario. He was positioned backstage, trying to attain the stage till six guards prevented him from doing so.
He lashed out at Brando, declaring at the time: “If [Brando] “had one thing to say, he ought to have appeared that night time and said his views as a substitute of taking some little unknown lady and dressing her up in an Indian outfit.”
Sacheen was allocated merely 60 seconds to deliver her message, and faced jeering and foot-stomping from those in attendance. Reflecting on the moment decades later, she recalled: “I keep in mind the faces within the crowd… John Wayne, backstage, had to be restrained by six males from coming to get me and pull me off the stage.
“I did not put up my fist in protest; I did not use profanity… We did not have jobs in the industry, we were excluded.
“They boycotted me; they went round to the manufacturing firms and mentioned for those who rent her we’ll shut you down… I used to be not allowed to be on any speak reveals, Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin, and the like,” she revealed to Entertainment Weekly.
Speaking to Variety, she emphasized: “[Wayne] was by no means administered by the Academy. It was by no means revealed within the press. But probably the most violent moments passed off then and there at the Academy Awards by John Wayne.”
However, skeptics have characterized the account as a “persistent city legend” – purportedly originating as an embellishment from Oscars telecast director Marty Pasetta, a year following Littlefeather’s stage appearance.
Film historian Farran Nehme points to Wayne’s lung cancer surgery nine years prior, which resulted in the removal of two ribs and a portion of his left lung – leaving him in poor health for years later – as evidence undermining the plausibility of the alleged backstage confrontation. However, the Academy issued an apology to Littlefeather years later.
Academy President David Rubin penned: “The abuse you toughened due to this assertion was unwarranted and unjustified.
“The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. For this, we offer both our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration.”
