FAQ

Two widows—Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) and homeless black housekeeper Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore)—decide to share a tiny apartment where they can raise their daughters—six-year-old Susie Meredith (Terry Burnham, later Sandra Dee) and eight-year-old Sarah Jane Johnson (Karin Dicker, later Susan Kohner)—while Lora pursues her dream of becoming an actress. Annie's dream of a good life for her and her daughter is disrupted when Sarah Jane, so light-skinned that she can pass for white, turns her back on her black heritage as well as her loving mother.

Imitation of Life is a 1933 novel by American novelist Fannie Hurst. The novel was adapted for the screen by American screenwriters Eleanore Griffin and Allan Scott. This movie is a color remake of the1934 black-and-white film Images de la vie (1934).

It sounds like Nat King Cole, but it's actually the late musician and vocalist Earl Grant.

In the opening scenes of the movie, when Lora and Susie first meet Annie and Sarah Jane on the beach at Coney Island, Lora at first thinks Annie is Sarah Jane's nanny because Annie is obviously a black woman and Sarah Jane is so light-skinned that she looks white. Annie explains that Sarah Jane's father was "practically white", leading to the assumption that Sarah Jane's father was mulatto.

As an aspiring actress with a six-year-old daughter in tow, Lora needs time away from Susie in order to pursue her career, but she can't afford to hire a nanny. Annie is homeless and has difficulties finding a job that will allow her to keep her daughter with her. Consequently, Annie offers Lora her services as housekeeper and nanny to Susie in exchange for room and board for her and Sarah Jane, thus freeing up Lora to pursue her career.

The first 50 or so minutes of the 125-minute movie tells the story of how Lora and Annie met, became housemates with their two young daughters, and how Lora became a star. The story then moves forward ten years, to 1958. Susie is now 16 years old, and Sarah Jane is 18.

Susan Kohner is of Mexican and Jewish-Czech descent.

Steve Archer (John Gavin) was driving a 1957 or 58 Chrysler 300, a limited-production, high-performance vehicle. The speed of each car was certified by Chrysler. A photo of the Chrysler 300 can be seen at here.

No cause was given in the movie, other than the fact that she'd been having spells, and the doctors didn't know what they were from, so all they could tell her was to rest. It appears that the spells started getting worse after she found out that Sarah Jane was dancing in a sleazy dive.

That was the legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson [1911-1972] singing "Trouble of the World."

Annie is taken to her bed and dies. During her elaborate funeral procession, Sarah Jane resurfaces and rushes to the hearse. "She's my mother, " she cries. Lora brings Sarah Jane to ride in the hearse with them.

There are several differences, starting with the names of the characters. In the novel, Lora is called Bea Chipley Pullman, Susie is Jessie Pullman, Annie is Delilah, and Sarah Jane is Peola. Bea is not an actress; rather, she is a door-to-door maple syrup salesperson who, together with Delilah, opens a successful waffle-making restaurant. The racial identity problem suffered by Peola is the same as for Sarah Jane, except that Peola marries a white man and moves to South America at the end of the novel.