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 and 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.
