Chief Dan George is perhaps best known for playing Old Lodge Skins in the 1970 Western Little Big Man. He was not the first choice.
Director Arthur Penn initially wanted Sir Laurence Olivier for the part. He also considered Paul Scofield. Marlon Brando turned down the role. Richard Boone was slated to take it but pulled out at the last minute.
It was only then that Penn heeded something author Thomas Berger’s analysis—that white actors are usually not very good in playing India

True West May/June 2025
In This Issue:
Features
- Historic Hotels of the American West
- A Journey Through Wyoming’s Outlaw History
- A Journey Through Washington’s Wild Frontier
- Blazing The Oregon Trail
- Journey Through Time
- Did Brigham Young Order a Massacre?
- Mountain Meadows Scapegoat John D. Lee VS. A Firing Squad
- Mormons in the Movies
- An Indigenous Consultant Ensures Accuracy
- The Battle Axe And A Raw Deal
- Showdown: Bridger VS. Brigham
- The Mountain Man and the Mormon Moses
- The Ghosts of Mountain Meadows
- The War Before the War
- Mountain Meadows