Juanita Moore(1914-2014)
- Actress
African American actress Juanita Moore entered films in the early
1950s, a time in which few black people were given an opportunity to
act in major studio films. Fortunately Moore's roles began improving as
Hollywood developed a social consciousness toward the end of the
decade. In 1959 she received an Academy Award nomination for her
performance in
Imitation of Life (1959), a
glossy updating of a once controversial
Fannie Hurst novel about racism.
Within the next decade Hollywood underwent several sociological
upheavals, and Juanita was one of the beneficiaries. She became a
fixture in black-oriented films of the 1960s and 1970s, appearing in
such films as Uptight (1968),
Thomasine & Bushrod (1974)
and Abby (1974). She also appeared in Walt
Disney Pictures' The Kid (2000), and was in a total of more than 50 films. Moore retired in 2001 and passed away New Year's Day 2014 . She was 99.
