Imitation of Life

Imitation of Life (1934) was a well-mounted adaptation of Hurst’s drama about racism and single parenthood, as told through the friendship of two women—one white (Claudette Colbert), the other African American (Louise Beavers); the film received an Academy Award nomination for best picture. In 1935…

…big successes with the melodrama Imitation of Life, with Louise Beavers, and Capra’s classic screwball comedy It Happened One Night, in which she played opposite Clark Gable. Colbert had been initially reluctant to appear in the slight comedy, but her sparkling performance as a runaway heiress became her most famous…