Juanita Moore, the actress who shattered racial barriers when she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in 1959′s “Imitation of Life” died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 99-years-old.
Moore received a supporting actress nomination for Douglas Sirk’s “Imitation of Life,” playing the housekeeper whose daughter passes for white, in the racially themed film that was based on the Fannie Hurst novel. She was the fifth African-American to be Oscar-nommed.
Kahn said she was still running lines with him recently, and had planned to participate in a reading at the Saban Theater in a few weeks. “She didn’t candy-coat it for you,” he said. “She said, ‘If you’re no good, the play’s no good.’”
“She gave back to the community in so many ways,” he said. “Wherever we went she stopped and told black boys and girls they could do anything with their lives.”
Moore, who was a founding member of the Cambridge Players along with thespians such as Esther Rolle, was honored at the Black Theater Festival in North Carolina, her grandson said.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Thursday, January 2nd 2014 at 7:13PM
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