Imitation of Life ( 1959 film ) - wikipedia Imitation of Life ( 1959 film ) Imitation of Life Film poster by Reynold Brown Directed by Douglas Sirk Produced by Ross Hunter Screenplay by Eleanore Griffin Allan Scott Based on Imitation of Life 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst Starring Lana Turner Juanita Moore John Gavin Sandra Dee Susan Kohner Music by Frank Skinner Sammy Fain Henry Mancini Cinematography Russell Metty Edited by Milton Carruth Production company Universal Pictures Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date April 30, 1959 ( 1959 - 04 - 30 ) Running time 125 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $2 million Box office $6.4 million ( est. US / Canada rentals ) Imitation of Life is a 1959 American romantic drama film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal International, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin. It was Sirk 's final Hollywood film and dealt with issues of race, class and gender. The cast also features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Kohner and Moore received Academy Award nominations for their performances. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson appears as a church choir soloist. Imitation of Life is the second film adaptation of Fannie Hurst 's novel of the same name ; the first was released in 1934 and starred Claudette Colbert. In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected Imitation of Life for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it `` culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant '' just like the original 1934 film. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 History and production 4 Release and critical reaction 5 Awards and nominations 6 Home media 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links Plot Lana Turner In 1947, widow Lora Meredith ( Lana Turner ) dreams of becoming a famous Broadway actress. Losing track of her young daughter Susie at the beach ( portrayed as a child by Terry Burnham ), she asks a stranger named Steve Archer ( John Gavin ) to help her find the girl. Susie is found and looked after by Annie Johnson ( Juanita Moore ), a black single mother who also has a daughter, Sarah Jane ( portrayed as a child by Karin Dicker ), who is about Susie 's age. Sarah Jane inherited her father 's fair skin and can pass for white. She does this with fierce zeal and fervor, taking advantage of her European heritage and features. In return for Annie 's kindness, Lora temporarily takes in Annie and her daughter. Annie persuades Lora to let her stay and look after the household, so that the widow can pursue an acting career. With struggles along the way, Lora becomes a star of stage comedies, with Allen Loomis ( Robert Alda ) as her agent and David Edwards ( Dan O'Herlihy ) as her chief playwright. Although Lora had begun a relationship with Steve Archer, the stranger she met at the beach, their courtship falls apart because he does not want her to be a star. Lora 's concentration on her career prevents her from spending time with her daughter, who sees more of Annie. Annie and Sarah Jane have their own problems, as Sarah Jane is struggling with her African - American identity and wants to pass for white because of its privileges in American society in the pre-civil rights era. Eleven years later, in 1958, Lora is a highly regarded Broadway star living in a luxurious home in New York. Annie continues to live with her, serving as nanny, housekeeper, confidante and best friend. After rejecting David 's latest script ( and his marriage proposal ), Lora takes a role in a dramatic play. At the show 's after - party, she meets Steve, whom she has not seen in a decade. The two slowly begin rekindling their relationship, and Steve is reintroduced to Annie and the now - teenaged Susie ( Sandra Dee ) and Sarah Jane ( Susan Kohner ). When Lora is signed to star in an Italian motion picture, she leaves Steve to watch after Susie. The teenager develops an unrequited crush on her mother 's boyfriend. Juanita Moore ( right ) Sarah Jane continues to pass as white and begins dating a white boy ( Troy Donahue ). He beats her in an alleyway after learning she is black. Some time later, she again passes for white to get a job performing at a seedy nightclub, but tells her mother she is working at the library. When Annie learns the truth, she goes to the club to claim her daughter ; Sarah Jane is fired. Her rejection of her mother begins taking a physical and mental toll on Annie. When Lora returns from Italy, Sarah Jane has run away from home. She asks Steve to hire a detective to find her. The detective locates Sarah Jane in California, living as a white woman under an assumed name and working as a chorus girl. Annie, becoming weaker and more depressed by the day, flies out to California to see her daughter one last time and say goodbye. Annie is bedridden upon her return to New York, and Lora and Susie look after her. The issue of Susie 's crush on Steve becomes serious when Susie learns that Steve and Lora are to be married. Annie tells Lora of the girl 's crush. After a confrontation with her mother, Susie decides to go away to school in Denver, Colorado, to forget about Steve. Not long after Susie leaves, Annie passes away. As she wished, Annie is given a lavish funeral in a large church, complete with a gospel choir, followed by an elaborate traditional funeral procession with brass band and horse - drawn hearse. Just before the procession sets off, Sarah Jane pushes through the crowd of mourners to throw herself upon her mother 's casket, begging forgiveness. Lora takes Sarah Jane to their limousine to join her, Susie, and Steve as the procession slowly travels through the city. Cast Lana Turner as Lora Meredith Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson John Gavin as Steve Archer Sandra Dee as Susie, age 16 Susan Kohner as Sarah Jane, age 18 ( singing voice dubbed by Jo Ann Greer ) Robert Alda as Allen Loomis Dan O'Herlihy as David Edwards Than Wyenn as Romano Karin Dicker as Sarah Jane, age 8 Terry Burnham as Susie, age 6 Ann Robinson as Showgirl Troy Donahue as Frankie Sandra Gould as Annette Jack Weston as Tom Mahalia Jackson as choir soloist History and production The plot of the 1959 version of Imitation of Life was significantly altered from the original book and the 1934 film version. In the original story, the `` Lora '' character, Bea Pullman, became successful by commercial production of her maid Delilah 's family waffle recipe ( the 1934 film version features a family pancake recipe instead of a waffle recipe ). As a result, Bea, the white businesswoman, becomes rich. Delilah is offered 20 % of the profits, but declines and chooses to remain Bea 's dutiful assistant. Director Douglas Sirk and screenwriters Eleanore Griffin and Allan Scott felt that such a story would not be accepted during the Civil Rights Movement amid milestones, such as the Brown v. Board of Education case and the Montgomery bus boycott, but racial discrimination and inequities was still part of it. The story was altered so that Lora becomes a Broadway star with her own talents, with Annie assisting her by serving as a nanny for Lora 's child. Producer Ross Hunter was cannily aware that these plot changes would enable Lana Turner to model an array of glamorous costumes and real jewels, something that would appeal to the female audience at that time. Lana Turner 's wardrobe for Imitation of Life cost over $1.078 million, making it one of the most expensive in cinema history at that time. Although many actresses, most of them white, were screen - tested for the Sarah Jane role in the 1959 remake, Susan Kohner, daughter of actress Lupita Tovar, born in Mexico, and Paul Kohner, a Czech Jewish immigrant, won the role. Karin Dicker made her debut in this film as the young Sarah Jane. Noted gospel singer Mahalia Jackson received `` presenting '' billing for her one scene, performing a version of `` Trouble of the World '' at Annie 's funeral service. Release and critical reaction Sirk 's Imitation of Life premiered in New York City on April 17, 1959, and Universal put the film into general release on April 30. Though it was not well - reviewed upon its original release and was viewed as inferior to the original 1934 film version -- many critics derided the film as a `` soap opera '' -- Imitation of Life was the fourth-most successful motion picture of 1959, grossing $6.4 million. Imitation of Life was Universal - International 's top - grossing film that year, and ranked as Universal 's most successful film until the release of Thoroughly Modern Millie in 1967. Both Moore and Kohner were nominated for the 1959 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the 1959 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. While neither actress won the Oscar, Kohner won the Golden Globe award, as well as another for Best New Actress. Moore won second place in the category of Top Female Supporting Performance at the 1959 Laurel Awards, and the film won Top Drama. Douglas Sirk was nominated for the 1959 Directors Guild of America Award. Since the late 20th century, Imitation of Life has been re-evaluated by critics. It is considered a masterpiece of Douglas Sirk 's directing style. Emanuel Levy has written, `` One of the four masterpieces directed in the 1950s, the visually lush, meticulously designed and powerfully acted Imitation of Life was the jewel in Sirk 's crown, ending his Hollywood 's career before he returned to his native Germany. '' Sirk provided the Annie -- Sarah Jane relationship in his version with more screen time and more intensity than the original versions of the story. Critics later commented that Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner stole the film from Turner. Sirk later said that he had deliberately and subversively undercut Turner to draw focus toward the problems of the two black characters. Sirk 's treatment of racial and class issues is also admired for what he caught of the times. Writing in 1997, Rob Nelson said, Basically, we 're left to intuit that the black characters ( and the movie ) are themselves products of ' 50s - era racism -- which explains the film 's perspective, but hardly makes it less dizzying. Possibly thinking of W.E.B. Du Bois 's notion of African American double - consciousness, critic Molly Haskell once described Imitation 's double - vision : `` The black girl 's agonizing quest for her identity is not seen from her point of view as much as it is mockingly reflected in the fun house mirrors of the culture from which she is hopelessly alienated. '' Imitation of Life became a staple of both the American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies cable television networks. Todd Haynes ' Far from Heaven ( 2002 ) is an homage to Sirk 's work, in particular All That Heaven Allows. The 1969 Diana Ross & the Supremes song `` I 'm Livin ' in Shame '' and the 2001 R.E.M. song, `` Imitation of Life, '' are based upon this film. In 2015, the British Broadcasting Corp. ( BBC ) named the film the 37th greatest American movie ever made based on a survey of film critics. Awards and nominations Laurel Awards Top Drama Top Female Supporting Performance ( Juanita Moore ) -- 2nd place Top Cinematography -- Color ( Russell Metty ) -- Nomination, 5th place Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress ( Susan Kohner ) -- Nomination Best Supporting Actress ( Juanita Moore ) -- Nomination Golden Globes Best Supporting Actress ( Susan Kohner ) Best Supporting Actress ( Juanita Moore ) -- Nomination Directors Guild of America Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures ( Douglas Sirk ) -- Nomination Home media Both the 1934 and 1959 films were issued in 2003 on a double - sided DVD from Universal Home Entertainment. A two - disc set of the films was issued by Universal in 2008. A Blu - ray DVD with both films was released in April 2015 ; this edition has been re-mastered, and is not identical with earlier DVD releases. Madman Entertainment in Australia released a three - disc DVD set, including the 1934 film version as well as a video essay on the 1959 film by Sam Staggs. See also Film in the United States portal 1950s portal List of American films of 1959 Whitewashing in film References Jump up ^ `` 1959 : Probable Domestic Take '', Variety, 6 January 1960 p 34 Jump up ^ Mike Barnes ( December 16, 2015 ). `` ' Ghostbusters, ' ' Top Gun, ' ' Shawshank ' Enter National Film Registry ''. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 16, 2015. ^ Jump up to : Handzo, Steven ( 1977 ). `` Intimations of Lifelessness ''. Bright Lights Film Journal ( 6 ). Retrieved 2013 - 03 - 09. ^ Jump up to : Foster Hirsch ( April 9, 2015 ). `` Imitation of Life ''. Film Forum ( Podcast ). Retrieved 2015 - 06 - 15. Jump up ^ Gallagher, Tag ( July 2005 ). `` White Melodrama : Douglas Sirk ''. Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 2013 - 03 - 09. The critics had barfed all over the film, hating it as `` a soap opera '' for the same reasons Sirk and we loved it. Jump up ^ `` Database : 1959 ''. Box Office Report. Retrieved from http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1959.shtml on January 16, 2007. Jump up ^ Schwartz, Dennis ( January 29, 2002 ). `` Review of Imitation of Life ''. Archived from the original on 2010 - 12 - 19. Over the course of time, many have come to consider this as a great film about post-war America -- something the public recognized before most of the critics did. Jump up ^ Awards and nominations for Imitation of Life. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052918/awards on January 16, 2007. Jump up ^ Levy, Emanuel ( August 15, 2009 ). `` Imitation of Life ( 1959 ) ''. Jump up ^ Nelson, Rob ( June 11, 1997 ). `` Passing Time / Through a Glass, Darkly : Juanita Moore and Lana Turner in Douglas Sirk 's ' Imitation of Life ''. Minneapolis City Pages. Retrieved 2015 - 04 - 05. Jump up ^ `` The 100 Greatest American Films ''. bbc.com. July 20, 2015. Jump up ^ Imitation of Life ( DVD ( Blu - ray ) ). Universal Studios. April 7, 2015. Jump up ^ Tooze, Gary W. ( 2015 ). `` Imitation of Life Blu - ray Lana Turner Claudette Colbert ''. DVDBeaver. Jump up ^ Imitation of Life ( DVD ). Madman Entertainment. April 23, 2008. OCLC 269454090. Further reading Fischer, Lucy, ed. ( 1991 ). Imitation of Life : Douglas Sirk, Director. New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8135 - 1645 - 5. OCLC 22279801. Collection of essays, reviews, interviews, and source materials related to Imitation of Life. Staggs, Sam ( 2009 ). Born To Be Hurt : The Untold Story of Imitation of Life. New York, NY : St. Martin 's Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 312 - 37336 - 8. OCLC 234176069. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Imitation of Life ( 1959 film ). Wikiquote has quotations related to : Imitation of Life ( 1959 film ) Imitation of Life on IMDb Imitation of Life at the TCM Movie Database Imitation of Life at AllMovie Imitation of Life at Rotten Tomatoes Imitation of Life at the American Film Institute Catalog Films directed by Douglas Sirk European films ' t Was één April ( 1936 ) The Court Concert ( 1936 ) To New Shores ( 1937 ) La Habanera ( 1937 ) Boefje ( 1939 ) American films Hitler 's Madman ( 1943 ) Summer Storm ( 1944 ) A Scandal in Paris ( 1946 ) Lured ( 1947 ) Sleep, My Love ( 1948 ) Shockproof ( 1949 ) The First Legion ( 1951 ) Thunder on the Hill ( 1951 ) The Lady Pays Off ( 1951 ) Week - End with Father ( 1951 ) No Room for the Groom ( 1952 ) Has Anybody Seen My Gal ? ( 1952 ) Meet Me at the Fair ( 1953 ) Take Me to Town ( 1953 ) All I Desire ( 1953 ) Taza, Son of Cochise ( 1954 ) Magnificent Obsession ( 1954 ) Sign of the Pagan ( 1954 ) Captain Lightfoot ( 1955 ) All That Heaven Allows ( 1955 ) There 's Always Tomorrow ( 1956 ) Never Say Goodbye ( 1956 ) Written on the Wind ( 1956 ) Battle Hymn ( 1957 ) Interlude ( 1957 ) The Tarnished Angels ( 1958 ) A Time to Love and a Time to Die ( 1958 ) Imitation of Life ( 1959 ) Films produced by Ross Hunter Take Me to Town ( 1953 ) All I Desire ( 1953 ) Tumbleweed ( 1947 ) Taza, Son of Cochise ( 1954 ) Naked Alibi ( 1954 ) Magnificent Obsession ( 1954 ) The Yellow Mountain ( 1954 ) All That Heaven Allows ( 1954 ) The Spoilers ( 1955 ) Captain Lightfoot ( 1955 ) One Desire ( 1955 ) There 's Always Tomorrow ( 1956 ) Battle Hymn ( 1957 ) My Man Godfrey ( 1957 ) Tammy and the Bachelor ( 1957 ) Interlude ( 1957 ) This Happy Feeling ( 1958 ) The Restless Years ( 1958 ) Imitation of Life ( 1959 ) A Stranger in My Arms ( 1959 ) Pillow Talk ( 1959 ) Midnight Lace ( 1960 ) Portrait in Black ( 1960 ) Back Street ( 1961 ) Tammy Tell Me True ( 1961 ) Flower Drum Song ( 1961 ) If a Man Answers ( 1962 ) Tammy and the Doctor ( 1963 ) The Thrill of It All ( 1963 ) The Chalk Garden ( 1964 ) I 'd Rather Be Rich ( 1964 ) The Art of Love ( 1965 ) Madame X ( 1966 ) The Pad and How to Use It ( 1966 ) Thoroughly Modern Millie ( 1967 ) Rosie ! ( 1967 ) Airport ( 1970 ) Lost Horizon ( 1973 ) The Lives of Jenny Dolan ( 1975 ) A Family Upside Down ( 1978 ) Suddenly, Love ( 1978 ) The Best Place to Be ( 1979 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Imitation_of_Life_(1959_film)&oldid=780409848 '' Categories : 1959 films English - language films 1950s romantic drama films American films American film remakes American romantic drama films Films about interracial romance Films about race and ethnicity Films based on American novels Films directed by Douglas Sirk Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe - winning performance Films set in New York City Films shot in California Films shot in Los Angeles Universal Pictures films United States National Film Registry films Films set in 1947 Films set in 1958 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Български Català Deutsch Español فارسی Français Italiano עברית Latina Lëtzebuergesch Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 14 May 2017, at 22 : 32. 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Question: who played annie johnson in imitation of life
Answer: Juanita Moore