Some of the famous political acceptance speeches, pre-Streep
NEW YORK — From Marlon Brando to Patricia Arquette, Hollywood stars have often used their moments on the stage to make political pleas. Some inspire change, some polite applause and some are simply mocked for trying to get serious about a personal cause at a ritzy gala.
Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech about President-elect Donald Trump and his policies at Sunday night’s Golden Globes was different in many ways from previous such speeches. As the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement honoree, she was afforded a large chunk of time and so she didn’t have to blurt out a sentence or two before an orchestra played her off. Few, too, can match her talent as a performer and speaker.
Streep’s speech, which led to Trump on Monday dismissing her as “overrated,” has already joined the colorful history of awards show podiums transformed into passionate pulpits. Here are some of the most famous ones:
— Marlon Brando, 1973. The actor didn’t accept his 1973 Academy Award for best actor for his performance in “The Godfather.” Instead he sent Sacheen Littlefeather, president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee. Littlefeather said Brando could not accept the award because of “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry and on television in movie reruns.” She said: “I beg at this time that I have not intruded on this evening, and that … in the future our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity.”