Imitation of Life
1959 · Movie · 124 min. · United States
Aspiring actress Lora Meredith meets Annie Johnson a homeless black woman at Coney Island and soon they share a tiny apartment. Each woman has an intolerable daughter, though Annie's little girl Sarah Jane, is by far the worse. Neurotic and obnoxious, Sarah Jane doesn't like being black; since she's light-skinned (her father was practically white), she spends the rest of the film passing as white, much to her mother's heartache and shame. Lora, meanwhile, virtually ignores her own daughter in a single-minded quest for stardom.
Direction Douglas Sirk
Cast Lana Turner · John Gavin · Susan Kohner · Sandra Dee · Dan O'Herlihy · Robert Alda · Juanita Moore · Mahalia Jackson · Terry Burnham · Karin Dicker · Troy Donahue
Soundtrack Frank Skinner
Screenplay Eleanore Griffin · Allan Scott · Fannie Hurst
Cinematography Russell Metty
Original title Imitation of Life
7.6
8K votes (FilmAffinity)
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