The classic 1959 film, Imitation of Life, is still an essential movie. It grasps toward a confrontation with realities that many of us still find dangerous yet difficult to name. Whenever I watch the melodrama, I walk away feeling wrought with emotion; the movie wrings my tear ducts!
The subject of independent single mothers and the collateral damage that racial bias could do to relationships strikes a chord. Veteran actress extraordinaire, Juanita Moore, will forever be remembered for her tear-jerking role as the hard-working, gentle, and kind-hearted Annie Johnson, whose devotion to her daughter’s happiness impels incredible self-sacrifice. Annie stays the course as the very embodiment of motherly love, even as her light-complected daughter, Sarah Jane, continues her self-loathing rants of her and her mother’s Blackness. Juanita’s emotionally pungent performance delivered a story of selfless sacrifice, and this is what truly anchors the film.
Juanita Moore was born on October 19, 1914 in Greenwood, Mississippi. She was the youngest of nine children. After her father’s passing, Juanita’s mother, Willie Ella Dunn Moore, moved the family to South Los Angeles in search of a better life. She was encouraged by a teacher to consider an acting career. Juanita was bitten by the acting bug during her college years when during a break, she traveled to New York City to join the chorus line at Small’s Paradise, a popular nightclub in Harlem.
A fellow performer advised Juanita that if she wanted to take her craft seriously, she needed to study. So, the actress enrolled at the Actor’s Lab, a theater group that was known for its liberal left associations. Juanita studied at the Actors’ Lab with Marlon Brando, Dorothy Dandridge, and Marilyn Monroe, among other acting luminaries. As a matter of fact, Juanita and Dorothy developed an enduring friendship.
Seeking work as a Black actress was not an easy feat in this country. So, Juanita eventually traveled abroad, performing in top European clubs, including the London Palladium and the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France before embarking on a film career in late 1949, making her debut as an un-credited nurse in the race-conscious film Pinky. After her film debut, the performer continued to work as a character actress.
In 1959, Juanita landed a role that would garner her tons of accolades. She portrayed Annie Johnson in the film, Imitation of Life, opposite Lana Turner. Juanita earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in the film. Even though Juanita had appeared as a supporting actress in more than 70 film and television shows during her over five-decade career, Imitation of Life (originally made in 1934 with Louise Beavers and Fredi Washington) remains her most memorable and celebrated contribution to the arts.
During the 60s, Juanita also appeared in several stage productions, including Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun (1959-60) in London, U.K. and James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner (1965). She was also regularly seen on television productions such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Wagon Train, Dragnet, Gentle Ben, and numerous others. Juanita appeared in films such as Walk on the Wild Side, Stanley Kramer’s A Child is Waiting with Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland, The Singing Nun with Debbie Reynolds, and Uptight with Ruby Dee.
Juanita was a staunch supporter of the Ebony Showcase Theater in L.A., which was a venue for Black performers to play roles previously denied in mainstream theater productions. Here, she taught free acting lessons to neighborhood children and performed regularly.
In 1974, Juanita was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. Early in 2000, while semi-retired, the trailblazer was rediscovered by an agent in a chance meeting that led to a role in Walt Disney’s The Kid, her final feature film.
Known for her private nature when it came to her personal life, Juanita was first married to dancer Nyas Berry who died in 1951. Her second husband, Los Angeles bus driver Charles Burris, passed away in 2001. The couple had one son, who has largely stayed out of the public eye. She also has a grandson, Kirk Kelleykahn, an actor and dancer, who has stated that just hours before his grandmother’s passing, she had been drilling him on his lines for an upcoming part.
The woman who will always be remembered as an icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age passed away at her home on January 1, 2014 at age 99 of natural causes. Juanita’s work continues to inspire actors and filmmakers.
