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Luther Standing Bear (1868 - 1939), also known as Ota Kte (meaning Plenty Kill), was a Native American writer and actor. Born in South Dakota to an Oglala Lakota family, Standing Bear was educated at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an Indian Boarding School in Pennsylvania, where their first tactic to separate the Indians from their tribes was to "let" them choose a new name; thus Plenty Kill became Luther Standing Bear. After graduating, he operated a dry goods store at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota until becoming a dancer and horseback rider for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. From the 1910s to the 1930s, he starred in Western films, including White Oak and Cyclone of the Saddle . Standing Bear published books during his lifetime to educate the public about Native American culture and government policies toward his people. These included My People the Sioux (1928), Land of the Spotted Eagle (1933), and Stories of the Sioux (1934). In 1939, he died of the flu while on the set of the film Union Pacific . He is buried in Los Angeles, California.
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