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In 1973, Marlon Brando – along with the media and the rest of the movie-watching world – was confident that he would win the Oscar for Best Actor for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. Even now, it’s a no-brainer.

Because he was so sure he would be taking home the statue, Brando decided to take advantage of the moment and place the spotlight somewhere that he felt needed it more.

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Choosing to boycott the ceremony that year in protest of Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans, Brando was nowhere to be seen the night of, despite it being considered his night to own. Instead, when Brando’s name was eventually called by presenter Roger Moore, it was Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather, in traditional clothing, who walked through the throngs of diamond-adorned celebrities and approached the podium to present a speech – stunning the audience.

To a resounding chorus of boos, she explained that Brando “very regretfully cannot accept this generous award, the reasons for this being…are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry and on television in movie reruns, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee.”

Later that year, in an interview with Dick Cavett, when asked if he regretted the way he handled the Oscars, Brando said, not batting an eye or moving a muscle, “I felt there was an opportunity. Since the American Indian hasn’t been able to have his voice heard anywhere in the history of the United States, I thought it was a marvellous opportunity to voice his opinion to 85 million people. I felt that he had a right to, in view of what Hollywood has done to him.”