Somewhat Off Topic: Marlon Brando & Sacheen Littlefeather

[Uncle Roger]

I was doing some shopping at the local Ollie's, a discount chain where you can find some interesting and unusual stuff. I decided to pick up a copy of The Contender, a biography of the late Marlon Brando. Brando certainly led an interesting life and crossed paths with many actors. He made two films with Jean Simmons.
The story about his declining the Academy Award has been told numerous times but the book has some interesting information from her perspective. He sent her to the ceremony with a long speech that went on for several pages. Once she got on stage, she knew that she would never be able to read Brando's speech as written and basically had to ad lib. The audience was dumbstruck initially. Unsurprisingly, John Wayne was furious and he had to physically "restrained by six security guards" from confronting her.
The book also provides some new information on her status as the winner of The Miss American Vampire contest. She had entered the contest to bring attention to the situation at Alcatraz. What being selected Miss American Vampire would have done to aid the situation is unclear. But she did win. Littlefeather declined the prize of a guest appearance on DS. Brando survived the situation. Littlefeather returned to obscurity.
There's another DS connection as well. The author, William J. Mann, has written quite a few other books, including an excellent biography of Katharine Hepburn. But he is also one of us! He wrote a pretty good DS serial, an 1872 flashback, that appeared in the fanzine Inside The Old House.

[Midnite]

Fascinating stuff, Unc.  You might be interested in this extensive interview with her from last year that a friend sent me-- possibly Littlefeather's last as she was battling Stage 4 breast cancer.  Her details of that Oscar night don't contradict Mann's account, and she goes on to explain how she and Brando came to be friends:

‘I promised Brando I would not touch his Oscar’: the secret life of Sacheen Littlefeather

A link to a writeup of a short (30 min) documentary made about her follows the article.

[Uncle Roger]

Quite an interesting interview, Midnite. I remember that when I was a freshman in college, The Village Voice ran an article/interview with her. I don't remember the specifics of the article anymore, other than it misstated her relationship to Dark Shadows. I felt compelled to write in and clarify that she had never been a regular on the show. I never really expected The Voice to print my letter but they did! They even highlighted it in that issue's letter column.

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Wow, I did not know that Sacheen Littlefeather had won the Miss America Vampire Contest. I wonder if she appeared with Jonathan Frid to receive the award at the world famous Palisade Park Amusement Center in Fort Lee, NJ? I remember that KLS had a picture of Jonathan Frid and Nancy Barrett with one winner of that contest in Palisades Park in 1970. I believe that winner had a walk-on appearance in an 1840 episode in The Eagle Tavern with Kendrick Collins and the ill-fated Tim Braithwaite.

In addition, Ms. Littlefeather appeared in Playboy Magazine after her memorable appearance at The Academy Awards. Two DS actresses also graced the pages of Playboy Magazine: Deborah Loomis, who portrayed Tessie Kincaid, the werewolf Quentin Collins’ victim and K.C. Townsend, who portrayed “working girl” Sophie Baker, the vampire Barnabas Collins’ victim, both occurring during the 1897 DS storyline.

That’s great that The Village Voice printed your letter regarding Ms. Littlefeather. Author George R.R. Martin had his letters published in several of the Marvel Comic Book magazines. Apparently, Mr. Martin was a big fan of Spider-Man, The Hulk and Doctor Strange. My older brother was in the same home room with George Martin when they were fellow students at the Catholic boys high school we all attended. Maybe reading all of those Marvel Comics in addition to seeing the ocean liners and the Staten Island Ferry sailing in the New York Harbor inspired George R.R. Martin to later write his “Game of Thrones” novels? I don’t know if Mr. Martin was a fan of Dark Shadows, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he were, since horror novelist Stephen King was a big fan of DS as  a teenager, growing up there in Maine.

If the Dark Shadows Festivals ever return, perhaps the organizers could also reboot the Miss America Vampire Contest? 

[Midnite]

Good for you for correcting that piece of misinformation, Uncle Roger!  The subject of mistakes in KLS' books has been hashed and rehashed, sorry, but KLS hasn't, as far as I'm aware, corrected her published misstatements about the contest or Littlefeather (a Filipina???).

[Uncle Roger]

Some interesting information about Ms. Littlefeather has surfaced, in interviews with her two sisters. The sisters state that Littlefeather's birth name was Marie Cruz. And that her claims about being Apache and/or Yaqui are completely fraudulent. The family's background is largely Mexican.