The honor was introduced by Roger Moore and Liv Ullman at the Oscars - however dismissed
The Academy has apologized to Sacheen Littlefeather, a Native American dissident and entertainer booed off stage at the Oscars almost quite a while back.
She showed up on live TV in 1973 to reject an Oscar for the benefit of Marlon Brando, who had won the best entertainer prize for The Godfather.
Brando dismissed the honor in view of distortion of Native Americans by the US entertainment world.
The Academy said Littlefeather persevered "inappropriate and outlandish" misuse.
"I never suspected I'd actually witness I would be hearing this," she told the Hollywood Reporter.
Littlefeather, then, at that point, 26, was pestered and evaded by media outlets following her concise discourse at the honors.
Her discourse was, coordinators said, the primary political proclamation at the broadcast service - starting a pattern which proceeds right up 'til now.
Presenting herself in the interest of Brando - who expressed "an extremely lengthy discourse" - she momentarily told the crowd "that he remorsefully can't acknowledge this exceptionally liberal honor".
"What's more, the explanations behind this being the treatment of American Indians today by the entertainment world and on TV in film re-runs, and furthermore with late happenings at Wounded Knee," she said - concerning a vicious deadlock with government specialists at a site critical to the Sioux public.
She was met with boos - and a few cheers - from the crowd.
In 2020, Littlefeather let the BBC know that straight after the discourse she needed to leave the stage with two safety officers. Yet, she added, it "was a generally excellent thing" as entertainer John Wayne was behind the stage (got by six security men); she said he was "incensed with Marlon and enraged with me" and needed to pull her off stage himself.
off stage himself.
Some people used the "Tomahawk chop" - seen as a demeaning gesture to Native Americans - as she was walking by.
Brando had written a much longer speech, but Littlefeather was instructed by the award ceremony's production team to keep the rejection to 60 seconds.
It was televised to 85 million people. Some media reports after the event claimed Littlefeather was not truly a Native American, but rather that she agreed to the speech to help her acting career. Some speculated she might be Brando's mistress.
She told the BBC all those claims were untrue.
"The abuse you endured... was unwarranted and unjustified," David Rubin, former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, wrote in a letter to Littlefeather made public on Monday.
Mr Rubin said the speech at the 45th Academy Awards "continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity".
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will host an event in September, in which Littlefeather will talk about her appearance at the 1973 Oscars and the future of indigenous representation on screen.
In response to the apology, she said: "We Indians are very patient people - it's only been 50 years!"
She added that keeping a sense of humour is "our method of survival".
