The esteemed actress and native American civil rights activist, Sacheen Littlefeather have a net worth of $1.5 million as of 2022. The information about the cash-rich actress was estimated by Forbes & Business Insider.
Sacheen Littlefeather Net Worth, Earning, And More
Marie Louise Cruz, popularly known as Sacheen Littelfeather was born on November 14, 1946, later after 23 years, Littlefeather got into the activist community of America. Littefeather was chosen to represent Marlon Brando, the most influential actor of the 20th century, at the 45th Academy Awards, where she declined the Best Actor award on his behalf. Brando, hand in hand with Littlefeather, boycotted the ceremony to display his protest against Hollywood’s representation of Native Americans.
In addition to being a prolific actress, who has shone through more than 10 films, Littlefeather has also produced a number of films that are about Native Americans. As an activist, throughout decades, she has been immersed in issues related to those groups of individuals.
Sacheen Littelfeather’s Income
Sacheen Littlefeather’s 2022 net worth has been calculated as $1.5 million which is only a rough estimation. Although a major part of Littlefeather’s life has been dedicated to building up Native Americans’ rights and privileges, she has managed to earn income on the other side, which was also visible to the crowd.
Not much information has so far been able to gather, however, Sacheen Littlefeather’s income is mainly determined to be from her acting career alone.
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Sacheen Littlefeather Biography
Born to father Manuel Ybarra and mother Geraldine Marie Burnitz, Littlefeather has often described her childhood as difficult as ever. Both the parents were saddle makers and thus the family business venture was Cruz Saddlery.
The life of Littlefeather as a child was hard because she was in foster care and she had to live with her grandparents and not her parents since they parted when Littlefeather was only four.
As a teen, Littlefeather was an expert in fashion and food preservation she even won awards during her schooling period until 1964. Followed by her elementary education, Littlefeather moved to San Francisco to pursue a modeling career with a handful of photos taken at Cook’s Photography as her only portfolio.
Sacheen Littlefeather Name Evolution
It was around 1970 that Marie Louise Cruz finally evolved into Sacheen Littlefeather. According to her, the second name was chosen as Sacheen because her father used to call her so during his end times, and also Sacheen meant “little bear” which was her Navajo pals’ nickname, whereas “Littlefather” was not as complicated as the former as it was simply adopted because she often used to wear a feather on her hair.
Sacheen Littlefeather’s Activism
While Littlefeathers was pursuing her education in dramatics and speech, her interest in digging into her Native American identity began to boil. Native American customs were not her cup of tea until she learned the same from the other protesters like Adam Nordwell, who were constantly fighting for their rights.
Soon after Littelfeather was praised at the Academy Awards, Nordwell was invited to an interview in which he claimed that Littlefeather was active during the protest at Alcatraz.
Over the years, Littlefeather earned much respect and was a reputed member of the Native American Community in California and was invited as a guest director in the 80s for the play titled “Grandmother Earth” at the high school.
In the early 90s, Littlefeather co-found the American Indian Registry which was initially founded by Will Sampson and Muscogee who worked to publish a directory on arts and entertainment for American Indians.
Sacheen Littlefeather’s Acting Career
While dreaming about being an actress, Littlefeathers joined the American labor union Screen Actors Guild and took the credits for several radio and television commercials. Later someday, she mentioned that her career as an actress was foreseeable as she was from a very young age itself enacting her deaf father.
In 1970, Littlefeather was named Miss Vampire USA, while the promotion for her soap Opera titled Dark Shadows, aired from 1966 to 1971.
In 1991, Littlefeather herself announced that she was about to commit to two shows named America Before Columbus and Remember Me Forever for PBS, which were said to release in 1992. Unfortunately, no such shows were broadcasted on the channel as no such reports have so far been obtained.
In the 2009 Canadian documentary, Reel Injun Littefeather shared her testimony about Native Americans, to bring awareness to the upcoming generation.
From Laughing Policemen to Listen To Me Marlon, Littlefeather has got tremendous influencing roles in movies such as Winterhawk, Counsellor at Crime, The Trial Of Billy Jack, Brando, Shoot The Sun Down, and many more.
Other Career Pursuits
Later in1971, Littlefeather participated in the American Indian Festival and she was also chosen as a jury member at a beauty pageant in 1972 as Princess Littlefeather. At the Palace of Fine Arts, she also organized an American Indian Festival in the same year and later went to work on radio stations like KFRC and Channel 9.
In 1972, Playboy magazine completed a photoshoot named” Ten Little Indians” which was not relevant because the pictures did not come as erotic as expected. However, after Littlefeather was honored with the Academy Award and her fame heightened, the pictures got published which created a controversial brush to which she replied that those clicks were solely taken at a time when she was in desperate need of money so that she could get into the World Theatre Festival.
Littlefeather got one more identity for her being, as a professional model in 1973 when she made her appearance in “Make-up for Minority Women”. In the same year, Littolefeather was seen protesting against Nixon’s budget alteration as a spokesperson. In March 1973, as a representative of the minorities on TV by participating in a discussion session with the Federal Communications Commission.
Littlefeather also served as a secretary at the American Indian AIDS Institute of San Francisco and was also one among the board of directors. Apparently, at the same time, she also worked in Mother Teresa’s AIDS hospice Gift of Love, and was honored to meet the kind soul at least once in her lifetime. Reportedly, Littlefeather had a brother, whom neither of her parents or grandparents had accepted, and he died of AIDS in 1990. Ever since Littlefeather was into spreading awareness among Native Americans not only about AIDS but also about other deadly conditions like alcoholism, diabetes, and obesity.
Sacheen Littlefeather Awards & Honours
In the late 80s, it was found that Littlfeqter was entitled to an accolade Traditional Indian Medicine Achievement Award and in 2019, she was chosen for the Brando Award which was a special honor given to individuals for their contribution to the development of American Indians.
Littlefeather was among the only few to ever reject the Oscar trophies although it was done so on behalf of Marlon Brando and she even delivered an entirely different speech after she successfully declined the trophy which was extended by Moore on the stage. The original speech prepared by Brando was shortly after revealed by herself before the media which ultimately benefited in creating critics in hordes.
Sacheen Littlefeather Health
Although Littlefeather was active for several years, it was not a secret that she was suffering from internal bleeding, cancer, and collapsed lungs. Littlefetawer had initially revealed her diagnosis of tuberculosis at the very young age of 4. In fact, she was also reported to have undergone suicidal attempts followed by which she was admitted to an asylum for a year.
In 1974 she explained that her Oscar speech on behalf of Marlon Brando was to repay him for his support during her hard times.
She was 29 when her collapsed lungs were analyzed, however, in 1991 it was stated that she was slowly recovering from the cancer surgery undergone. The account of Littlefeather’s health condition seems endless as an article in the 90s also claimed that Littlefeather had colon cancer in addition to the aforesaid ailments.
Long after in 2008, one of her reps announced that Littlefeather was fighting against breast cancer which was already at its final stage. In 2021, she said in her interview that her cancer had spread to her lungs as well.
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Sacheen Littlefeather Relationships
To date, Sacheen Littlefeather’s relationship status has been single as her name was not linked to any other individual so far. As of 2022, Littlefeather has not been seeing anyone. Also, no records have so far been obtained on Littlefeather’s dating life.