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Eddie Little Sky
Born	Edsel Wallace Little August 15, 1926 Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Shannon County, South Dakota
Died	September 5, 1997 Pennington, South Dakota
Nationality	American
Other names	Edward Little
Ethnicity	Oglala Sioux
Occupation	actor

Eddie Little Sky (August 15, 1926- September 5, 1997), also known as Edward Little,^[1] was a Native American actor of the Oglala Sioux tribe. He had parts in 36 feature films and over 60 television shows,^[2] mainly westerns in the role of a Native American. He was one of the first Native American actors to play Indian roles and is best remembered for his performance as Black Eagle in the 1970 film A Man Called Horse.

[edit] Career

Little Sky was born Edsel Wallace Little on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota to Oglala Sioux parents Edsel Wallace Little, Sr. and Mildred Cuny.^[3] He attended the Holy Rosary Indian Mission school as a child. After leaving the United States Navy where he had served in the Pacific during World War II, he began working the rodeo circuit as a bull rider and bareback rider. Following his work on the film Chief Crazy Horse, Audie Murphy encouraged Little Sky to become a professional actor;^[4] thus Little Sky, along with Jay Silverheels and Chief Dan George became one of the first Native Americans to play Indian roles in films. Hollywood normally used white actors wearing black wigs and dark make-up to play the parts of Indians. His first television role was on the series The Iron Trail,^[5] and from the time onwards, Little Sky had numerous roles in many Western television series such as Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, The Virginian, Bonanza, and The High Chaparral; he also played in many films such as Tonka, Paint Your Wagon, Duel at Diablo, Breakheart Pass, but he is chiefly remembered for his performance as Black Eagle in the 1970 film A Man Called Horse which starred Irish actor Richard Harris. He was also technical adviser for Soldier Blue.

Upon his retirement from the film industry in the late 1970s, he worked as director of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Parks and Recreation Authority. He was married to Native American actress Dawn Little Sky, by whom he had a daughter, Prairie Rose Little Sky.

Eddie Little Sky died on September 5, 1997 at the age of 71. He is buried at the Little Family cemetery in Oglala, South Dakota.

[edit] References