Page 38 - Seniorstoday March 2024 Issue

before realizing that the actual winner was
Lloyd for Cavalcade. Capra, later recalled
the moment with shame, saying to The
Hollywood Reporter, “I wish I could have
crawled under the rug like a miserable
worm.”
In 1940, Hattie McDaniel won Best
Supporting Actress for Gone with the
Wind, making her the first Black Oscar
winner. However, segregation was
practiced in the US then, and the Academy Sacheen Littlefeather at the 1973 Oscars
Awards were held at the Ambassador The Academy Awards red carpet is now
Hotel, which did not permit Black into a moving exhibition of fashion—some
the premises. Producer David O. Selznick elegant, some outrageous. In 1986, Cher,
had to get special permission for her to be shocked in a barely there Bob Mackie outfit,
allowed in, but she still had to sit at the that was made up of a very low-waisted
back, separate from her white co-stars. This skirt, a very cropped top and a bizarre
was shocking racism but it was much later feathered headpiece. When the dropped
that Blacks started getting the respect they jaws were back in place, Mackie told New
deserved. Yorker that the dress was, in part, an act
In 1973, Marlon Brando’s performance as of revenge. “She was pissed off, because
Don Corleone in The Godfather was a shoo- she didn’t get nominated for Mask. There
in for the Oscar. But the star, notorious were a lot of people who said, ‘That’s not
for his eccentricity, declined to attend and fashion!’ And I said, ‘Of course it’s not
sent Apache actress Sacheen Littlefeather fashion. It’s a crazy getup for attention.’
on his behalf and she delivered a powerful And it did get attention—people talk about
speech about the “poor treatment of Native it still.”
Americans in the film industry.” The term
trolled had not come into usage then, but
that is what she had to put up with. She
was allegedly told that she must condense
her speech to 60 seconds or risk being
arrested. In June 2022, the Academy
sent Littlefeather an apology which
read “The abuse you endured because
of this statement was unwarranted and Cher; 1986 Oscars
unjustified. The emotional burden you Beating Cher’s controversial dress, was
have lived through and the cost to your Icelandic singer-actress Bjork’s swan outfit
own career in our industry are irreparable. in 2001, by Macedonian designer Marjan
For too long the courage you showed has Pejoski, that had her leaving “eggs” in her
been unacknowledged. For this, we offer wake. The tulle dress is still voted the worst
both our deepest apologies and our sincere Oscar outfit ever. Later, she said in an
admiration.” interview with The New York Times, “They

38