
Reciting from TCM's notes on the film, Mankiewicz noted that—according to an article in Daily Variety at the time—Universal-International encountered some resistance to the promotion of the film and tailored its advertising campaign for the South, where, as one studio representative explained, "White southerners avoid films that are advertised as dealing with the race problem." Hardly a surprise, to some extent those concerns cut both ways. On February 2, 1959, Hollywood Reporter reprinted the following wire sent by LA Tribune editor Almena Lomac to numerous white publications: "Imitation of Life ... is a libel on the Negro race. It libels our children and the Negro mother [and] should be banned in the interest of national unity, harmony, peace, decency and inter-racial respect." Lomac's opposition underscores that Imitation of Life was a bold and controversial film for its time and remains totally relevant for us to see and think about today.




Osborne began the conversation by wrly recommending to Susan Kohner that she tell Juanita Moore she loved her: "She can hear you now." [Referencing, of course, Imitation of Life's final scene where Sarah Jane (Kohner) interrupts her mother's funeral cortege to throw herself sobbing onto her mother's coffin.] Moore mentioned that she and Kohner have remained friends all these years since making the film.
Osborne asked if either of them had any idea when they made Imitation of Life that people would be admiring the film in 2010? Moore responded by joking, "Everyone is dead who saw the film 50 years ago!"
Asked if producer Ross Hunter advised either of them to see the original 1934 version of Imitation of Life (directed by John Stahl and starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers), Moore answered, "I didn't see it. He didn't want me to see it."


Noting that the film's subject of "passing" was quite daring, particularly back in 1934 and even so in 1959, Osborne mentioned that previous films had dealt somewhat with the same subject—such as Lost Boundaries and Pinky, both from 1949—and though both left their mark, neither of those films had the influence of Imitation of Life. He wondered if either of them had felt going into the project that the film would be breaking ground?
"I didn't realize it," Kohner admitted, "I wasn't even aware of segregation as such at the time, not until we went on the road to publicize the film. I just saw Pinky the other day, as a matter of fact."
Moore knew the film was breaking ground at the time. "You see, my husband's mother was Caucasian and so I was living that kind of thing with my husband prior to Imitation of Life: one family Black, one family White. C'mon!"
As to whether their performances in Imitation of Life strengthened their careers and secured them better parts, Moore decried, "No, they were no better. I can't say that. I think I made less money after that, to tell you the truth, because I thought I was going to make more money with better parts and things like that but found myself right back making minimum. Eventually it paid off because I got other things from it. I got to go to London and Paris. So it paid off, it really did."

Kohner commented that her performance didn't really have much effect on her career. "I never got another role that was quite as good as this one. I know I didn't. I kept on playing, y'know, ethnic roles. I played an Italian, an American Indian. I did a few films where I played an American girl but this role was quite special. I was never offered another role like this again." After 10 films, Kohner pretty much gave up her career and married German novelist and fashion designer John Weitz, raising her two sons Chris and Paul Weitz. Enhancing Imitation's theme of motherly pride, Osborne asked Kohner to talk about the directorial careers of her two sons.
"They started with a film called American Pie. That was their first directing job. They had never directed anything before. Then things got a little more serious and upscale with About A Boy [2002, which earned them an Oscar® nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay]. Then they started doing their own material; Chris with The Golden Compass [2007] and Twilight: New Moon [2009], and he's now about to start a small-budget feature about a Mexican gardener called The Gardener. Paul is editing a film that he made with Robert DeNiro and Barbra Streisand, part of the Meet the Fockers franchise. He's got a play that's going to be done on Broadway starting in July."
Osborne pursued whether receiving Oscar® nominations for both their performances impacted their careers in any way? Again, Kohner replied no. "It didn't prove anything one way or the other," Moore added. Kohner continued, "We canceled each other out, being nominated for the same film." Shelley Winters won the honor that year for her performance in The Diary of Anne Frank.

"There was a lot of tension because she was so very upset," Kohner answered. "She was very emotional. Her crying in those scenes was real crying. She was very fragile and I think Juanita would know more about that because she actually saw her through a lot."
"Oh yes, she cried," Moore added. "We cried together. She had nobody to turn to. Her daughter was out there and she loved her daughter; but, her daughter was kind of on the wild side. Lana was so upset with her. She had no one to talk to except me, I guess, and she would talk to me about her daughter who was into some wild things at that time. So many young kids were doing that kind of thing, y'know, they were on the heavy stuff. They started out with marijuana and before they knew it they were on the heavy stuff. That's what happened."

Osborne: Her daughter would probably disagree with that.
Moore: Her daughter was tall….
Osborne: Still is….
Moore: …and Lana was the opposite, y'know? She was so petite. I know that her daughter was very displeased with the way she looked, because we talked about it. She said she looked like a man and I said, "C'mon, you don't look like any man I know."
Osborne: She's a beautiful girl today.
Moore: She is?!
Osborne: Yes, she is. She was supposed to be with us today. She was with us this morning for the screening of The Bad and the Beautiful. She's beautiful, Cheryl Crane.
Moore: Oh! I'd like to see her. She's big and beautiful?
Osborne: No, she's just beautiful.
Moore: Not fat?
Osborne: No, she's tall and quite beautiful.
Moore: I wish Lana could have lived to see that.
Osborne: She did.
Moore: No, she didn't!
Osborne: I would never argue with you about anything.
Moore: I saw Lana three days before she died so I know she didn't live to see her daughter beautiful like that. I'm still living and I haven't seen her beautiful like that, though I hope to God she is.

Juanita Moore's grandson—actor/producer Kirk Kelley-Kahn, the CEO/President of Cambridge Players: Next Generation—was present in the audience so Osborne invited him to the stage to introduce himself and to talk about the documentary he is making on his grandmother due out in December. "It's an educational documentary that is mostly going to be introducing people who don't know Juanita Moore and her legacy, and the way she's paved the way for others."
"Tell us something about your grandmother that she wouldn't say about herself," Osborne encouraged Kelley-Kahn, "Something that you admire about her."

"You might want to finish that documentary first," Osborne quipped.
"Some of the things she says might hurt you but you come back the next day and smile."
With that, Osborne thanked Kohner and Moore for taking the time to attend TCM's first Classic Film Festival.
Moore: I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to be anywhere.
Osborne: We're happy to have you.
Moore: Look at me, I'm old. Everybody knows that.
Osborne: Will you tell us your age?
Moore: [After a pause.] 94!
Cross-published on Twitch.