Brando backed Indian rights

Actor Marlon Brando had an unusual connection to the Pacific Northwest: Forty years ago, he was arrested here as part of a "fish-in" to support Native American fishing rights.

Brando, along with Episcopal clergyman John Yaryan from San Francisco, was taken into custody March 2, 1964, by a representative from the state Game Department, just outside of Tacoma. They were fishing in the Puyallup River, after a court order had forbidden tribal members to fish outside their reservation.

The two men were taken to Pierce County Jail to be charged with illegal fishing, but Pierce County prosecutor John McCutcheon ordered both released and declined to press charges. A third man, longtime Puyallup tribal leader Bob Satiacum, was also on the fishing expedition, but was not arrested.

"Brando is no fisherman. He was here to make a point. ... There is no use prolonging this," McCutcheon told reporters at the time.

Brando (who caught a fish before his arrest), was quoted that day as saying he was merely "helping some Indian friends fish." He was honored at a tribal ceremony in Olympia the following evening, and given a model of an Indian longboat.

The Tacoma arrest was part of Brando's lifelong commitment to Indian rights. In 1973, he declined to accept his Academy Award for "The Godfather," sending instead a young woman in Native American garb. She introduced herself to a surprised audience as Sacheen Littlefeather and spoke briefly about Brando's concerns about the treatment of Native Americans in the film industry. (This caused such controversy that the Academy enacted a new rule forbidding winners from sending proxies to accept their awards.)

According to a news account, in a 1974 ceremony, Brando turned over the deed to 40 acres he owned in the Santa Monica Mountains to Indian representatives, apologizing "for being 400 years too late." Hank Adams, of the Survival of American Indians Association of Tacoma, received the deed.

Steve Robinson, policy analyst for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, said yesterday of Brando, "He stood up for what he believed in, and he definitely believed in Indian rights — the rights of tribes to have equal opportunities. He was very much appreciated in the Native American community — highly appreciated and very respected. We need more Marlon Brandos."

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com