hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Trailblazing 'Imitation of Life' actress Juanita Moore dead at 99
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Trailblazing 'Imitation of Life' actress Juanita Moore dead at 99
Los Angeles - Juanita Moore, the third African-American actress to win a "Best Supporting Actress" Academy Award nomination, recently died in her home at age 99. Her iconic role as Annie Johnson in "Imitation of Life" also won a Golden Globe nomination.
She was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 1914 and began her career at the reknowned Cotton Club as a dancer before landing bit parts in film and working in theater. She honed her acting skills onstage at the Ebony Showcase Theater. Her first film role was as a small part as a nurse in "Pinky," a 1949 movie about a light-skinned woman passing for white. But it was her co-starring role as Annie Johnson in the 1959 remake of “Imitation of Life” that gained critical acclaim. “Imitation of Life” was based on the then controversial Fannie Hurst novel about racism. Housekeeper Annie Johnson had a daughter Sarah Jane, played by Susan Kohner, who could not accept the fact that she was “black,” although her mother was a brown-skinned African American woman and her father was a light-complexioned “practically white” man. Sarah Jane leaves home, longing to be accepted as “white” and forsakes her loving, self-sacrificing mother. The daughter knew if whites discovered her biological mother was “colored,” they would discover she was too, and ultimately, reject her. She then decides to both emotionally and physically distance herself from her mother. Although Moore received an Oscar nomination, it did not result in quality roles. She said, "What can you do? They're not going to pay me a lot of money for carrying a tray. That's all we did in movies at the time." Moore continued to work in theater, television and film after “Imitation of Life.” She played the role of the matriarch in a London production of “A Raisin in the Sun” and also appeared in Broadway’s "The Amen Corner” in 1965. During Hollywood's “blacksploitation" era, she played in "Up Tight!" (1968), "Thomasine and Bushrod" (1974) and "Abby" (1974). She also appeared as a wise grandmother in "The Kid" (2000). She never fully retired and was preparing for a stage reading of a new play and helping her grandson, actor and dancer Kirk Kellykhan, prepare for a theater role. Kellykhan reported that just hours before Moore’s death, she coached him on his lines over the phone saying, “That’s horrible! They’re going to boo you out of the theater!” After he made the needed adjustments, she told him, “Ah, that gives me chills. And I don’t have to see your expression: I’m Juanita Moore, and I know what I hear.” Moore's first husband, dancer Nyas Berry, died in 1951. Her second husband, Los Angeles bus driver Charles Burris, died in 2001. She is survived by her grandson and nephews Jimmy Nelson and Arnett Moore.
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Trailblazing 'Imitation of Life' actress Juanita Moore dead at 99