Claudette Colbert
Beatrice "Bea" Pullman
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Actress: Imitation of Life. 1930s and 1940s film actress Louise Beavers was merely one of a dominant gallery of plus-sized and plus-talented African-American character actresses forced to endure blatant, discouraging and demeaning stereotypes during Depression-era and WWII Hollywood.
- January 1, 1
- Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
- January 1, 1
- Hollywood, California, USA
I don't see how it is possible to overlook the magnificent portrayal of the Negro actress, Louise Beavers, who played the mother in Imitation of Life. If the industry chooses to ignore Miss Beavers' performance, please let this reporter, born and bred in the South, tender a special award of praise to Louise Beavers for the finest performance of ...
- November 26, 1934 (U.S.)
- Carl Laemmle Jr.
Tower of Strength. In John M. Stahl’s Imitation of Life, Louise Beavers finally had the opportunity to show her acting talent in a role that transcends the “Mammy” stereotype to form a profound portrait. Beavers plays Delilah, the housekeeper, business associate, and friend to white widow Bea Pullman (Claudette Colbert).
Imitation of Life: Directed by John M. Stahl. With Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Rochelle Hudson, Ned Sparks. A struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.
- (5.4K)
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- John M. Stahl
- 1934-11-26
Beavers played Delilah in Imitation of Life (1934), again in the role of a housekeeper, but instead of the usual stereotypical comedic or purely functional role, Delilah's storyline constitutes a secondary parallel plot in which her problems are given considerable emotional gravity.
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Mar 11, 2013 · March 11, 2013 By Cliff Aliperti 12 Comments. Louise Beavers was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 8, 1902. The African-American actress is best remembered as the original Delilah from 1934’s Imitation of Life and for the large number of maid roles played throughout her career both before and after that wasted breakthrough.
Imitation of Life explores the friendship between two struggling single mothers: one (Claudette Colbert) a working-class white woman who ascends to the top of the business world, the other (Louise Beavers) her Black housekeeper, whose life is shattered by the rejection of her rebellious, white-passing daughter (Fredi Washington).
