Juanita Moore, Oscar-Nominated Actress in Imitation of Life, Dies at 99 - People Magazine

By K.C. Blumm

01/01/2014 at 05:05 PM EST

Juanita Moore, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the 1959 film Imitation of Life, has died.

She passed away at her L.A. home on Wednesday at the age of 99, Variety ^[1] reports.

Moore, who appeared in more than 30 films, was the fifth African-American to receive an Academy Award nomination – she scored the Best Supporting Actress nod for playing Annie Johnson, a housekeeper whose daughter passes for white.

"Annie was a good role for me," she said^[2] in a 2005 interview. "I have been in a lot of pictures. However most of them consisted of my opening doors for white people."

She said she did a lot of crying while shooting the film, but director Douglas Sirk was patient with her.

"There were times I was so nervous the muscles were jumping in my face," she added. "I cried a lot in the making of this movie because it was real easy for me to cry. I had a lot to cry about. Conditions for black actors were unbelievable back then. Very few actors got the opportunity to hone their craft in the same way white actors did."

References

1. ^{^} Variety (variety.com)


2. ^{^} said (www.blackstarnews.com)