BRANDO'S OSCAR BLOW-OFF

I have to assume that the upcoming Harvey Weinstein/Kevin Spacey/James Franco-free Academy Awards ceremony will be packed with well-meaning but uncomfortable to watch speeches about the events of the past four months and perhaps even beyond, stretching back to the day the worlds largest audience ever watched the Presidential Inauguration. Indeed, we might even be treated to a celebrity refusing an award in order to make a statement about the treatment of women/minorities/others in Hollywood (though somehow I doubt it). With that in mind, I've posted above the moment when Marlon Brando failed to show up for his Best Actor Oscar win for 'The Godfather', instead sending an Apache woman named Sacheen Littlefeather up on stage to refuse the award because of Hollywoods treatment of American Indians (aka Native Americans).

She's a fine, calm and articulate spokesperson for the socially-conscious (and completely correct) Brando and classily ignores the boos from the audience (they're mixed with some applause but really--what kind of awful Hollywood creeps would boo a Native American woman brave enough to face down a crowd of the most arrogant and self-congratulatory jerks in the world). Here, by the way, is a nice IMDB article on thirty people who were Oscar winning no-shows. Did you know that Melvyn Douglas won two Oscars that he didn't show up for? I didn't even know he was nominated twice.

 Subscribe in a reader