When I heard that the actress Juanita Moore had died, I had just finished watching an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that I wanted to see because Theresa Harris was in it. Both Moore and Harris were gifted black actresses in the Golden Age of segregated Hollywood. Both were often relegated to playing maids (Harris played a maid in the Hitchcock episode – but did have some lines) and various other servants. But Moore, after appearing in films for nearly twenty years, gained broader acclaim and recognition when she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1959’s version of Imitation of Life.

That’s a title that probably held a lot of meaning for black actresses in Hollywood in the 30s, 40s and 50s. After all, the original 1934 version had provided a large and prominent part for the actress Louise Beavers, who had already made dozens of screen appearances. But, prominent role or not, after that, Beavers was relegated to the only roles (often uncredited) available for black actresses – such as “Lily – Cook #3” in 1939’s Made for Each Other, or “Woman Talking to Police” in 1940’s Primrose Path. Beavers played, by my count, a “Maid” around forty times, and characters named “Mammy” at least five times. Still, as Hattie McDaniel (who played dozens of maids herself) said, “I’d rather play a maid than be one.” Imitation of life, indeed.

In a sort of inverted echo of McDaniel’s quote, Moore was quoted as saying, “The Oscar prestige was fine, but I worked more before I was nominated. Casting directors think an Oscar nominee is suddenly in another category. They couldn’t possibly ask you to do one or two days’ work. You wouldn’t accept it. And I’m sure I would.”

 

 

In other words, Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar, but kept working, taking those small, one or two day gigs. Twenty years later, when Juanita Moore was just nominated, Hollywood had evolved enough to know they couldn’t recognize her talent and then keep shuffling her into bit parts. But it hadn’t (and I would argue still hasn’t) evolved enough so that there were actually meaningful roles to offer a mature woman of color.  Hollywood, for the most part, was past the “Mammy” period, and thus Moore was able to find numerous roles playing “Momma” instead.

Still, Moore did keep working, taking small parts in films and doing guest spots on TV shows. In 1968 she was featured in Jules Dassin’s black cast remake of 1935’s The Informer, titled Uptight, which was a harbinger of things to come.

She finally came into her own, in terms of billing and more prominent parts, during the Blaxploitation Era of the 1970s.  She had roles in the 1973 classic, The Mack, as well as Fox Style (also 1973), the black western Thomasine & Bushrod (1974) and the cult horror hit Abby (1974), a black cast knock-off of The Exorcist (1973). After starting in films during World War II, Moore’s last credit, a guest spot on the TV show Judging Amy in 2001, took her career into the 21^st century. Her life and her work spanned a great deal of change in the country, and within the film industry.

Her career, low key as it might have often been, placed her in some classic films, such as Cabin in the Sky (1943); the controversial race picture Pinky (1949); the all-star Women’s Prison (1955); two minor classics starring Glenn Ford, Affair in Trinidad (1952) and Ransom! (1956); and the Technicolor musical masterpiece The Girl Can’t Help It (1956). Making a living as an actor is never easy. For Moore to have had the career she did, when she did, is extremely noteworthy. I hope she was proud of her work. It doubtlessly meant a great deal to a great many people.