Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life
Watch TrailerWatch Movie
1934
1h 51m
7.0(85 votes)
Drama
Romance

Overview

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.

Where to Watch

Rent

Amazon Video

Links & Resources

IMDbView

Social & External

IMDb

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

Videos & Trailers

1 video

Cast & Crew

65 members
Acting

Claudette Colbert

Beatrice 'Bea' Pullman

Claudette Colbert
Acting

Louise Beavers

Delilah Johnson

Louise Beavers
Acting

Warren William

Stephen 'Steve' Archer

Warren William
Acting

Rochelle Hudson

Jessie Pullman, Age 18

Rochelle Hudson
Acting

Ned Sparks

Elmer Smith

Ned Sparks
Acting

Fredi Washington

Peola Johnson, Age 19

Fredi Washington
Acting

Juanita Quigley

Baby Jessie Pullman, Age 3

Juanita Quigley
Acting

Alan Hale

Martin the Furniture Man

Alan Hale
Acting

Henry Armetta

The Painter

Henry Armetta
Acting

Wyndham Standing

Beatrice's Butler Jarvis

Wyndham Standing
Acting

Joyce Compton

Young Woman at Party (uncredited)

Joyce Compton
Acting

Noel Francis

Mrs. Eden (uncredited)

Noel Francis
Acting

Jane Withers

Peola's Frontrow Classmate (uncredited)

Jane Withers
Acting

Marcia Mae Jones

Peola's Frontrow Classmate (uncredited)

Marcia Mae Jones
Acting

Henry Kolker

Dr. Preston (uncredited)

Henry Kolker
Acting

Hattie McDaniel

Woman at Funeral (uncredited)

Hattie McDaniel
Acting

William B. Davidson

Man Buying Cigar (uncredited)

William B. Davidson
Acting

William Austin

Englishman at Party (uncredited)

William Austin
Acting

G.P. Huntley

James (uncredited)

G.P. Huntley
Acting

Tyler Brooke

Tipsy Man at Party (uncredited)

Tyler Brooke
Acting

Sayre Dearing

Party Guest (uncredited)

Sayre Dearing
Acting

Claire McDowell

Teacher Outside Classroom (uncredited)

Claire McDowell
Acting

Jean Fenwick

Minor Role (uncredited)

Jean Fenwick
Acting

Dick Gordon

Party Guest (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Jesse Graves

Pallbearer (uncredited)

Jesse Graves
Acting

Harold Miller

Party Guest (uncredited)

Harold Miller
Acting

David Newell

Party Guest Saying Goodbye (uncredited)

David Newell
Acting

Dennis O'Keefe

Party Guest (uncredited)

Dennis O'Keefe
Acting

Franklin Pangborn

Mr. Carven (uncredited)

Franklin Pangborn
Acting

Clarence Wilson

Mr. Bristol, Landlord (uncredited)

Clarence Wilson
Acting

Marilyn Knowlden

Jessie Pullman, Age 8 (uncredited)

Marilyn Knowlden
Acting

Lenita Lane

Mrs. Dale (uncredited)

Lenita Lane
Acting

Paul Porcasi

Jackson's Restaurant Manager (uncredited)

Paul Porcasi
Acting

Barry Norton

Young Man Proposing Toast (uncredited)

Barry Norton
Acting

Edgar Norton

Butler at Party (uncredited)

Edgar Norton
Acting

Ronald R. Rondell

Party Guest (uncredited)

Ronald R. Rondell
Acting

Gay Seabrook

Party Guest (uncredited)

Gay Seabrook
Acting

Teru Shimada

Customer in Pancake Shop (uncredited)

Teru Shimada
Acting

Larry Steers

Party Guest (uncredited)

Larry Steers
Acting

Libby Taylor

Woman at Funeral (uncredited)

Libby Taylor
Acting

Madame Sul-Te-Wan

Cook (uncredited)

Madame Sul-Te-Wan
Acting

Alma Tell

Mrs. Craven (uncredited)

Alma Tell
Acting

Fred 'Snowflake' Toones

Man at Funeral (uncredited)

Fred 'Snowflake' Toones
Acting

Walter Walker

Hugh (uncredited)

Walter Walker
Acting

Dorothy Black

Peola Johnson, Age 10 (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Alyce Ardell

French Maid (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Monya Andre

Party Guest (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Edna Bowdoin

Secretary (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Daisy Bufford

Waitress (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Norma Drew

Teacher (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Paullyn Garner

Mrs. Ramsey (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Reverend Gregg

Minister (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Sebie Hendricks

Peola Johnson, Age 4 (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Stuart Johnston

Undertaker (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Tiny Jones

Funeral Spectator (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Curry Lee

Chauffeur (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Bessie Lyle

Woman at Funeral (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Julius Molnar

Footman (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Bert Moorhouse

Man at Funeral (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Edmund Mortimer

Party Guest (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Hayes Robinson

Man at Funeral (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Ethel Sykes

Party Guest (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Martin Turner

Man at Funeral (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Bruce Warren

Party Guest (uncredited)

No Image
Acting

Hazel Washington

Maid (uncredited)

No Image

Similar Movies

Blackmail
6.5
1929

Blackmail

London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.

Movie
Rashomon
8.0
1950

Rashomon

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

Movie
To Kill a Mockingbird
8.0
1962

To Kill a Mockingbird

Scout Finch, 6, and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama, spending much of their time with their friend Dill and spying on their reclusive and mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. When Atticus, their widowed father and a respected lawyer, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against fabricated rape charges, the trial and tangent events expose the children to evils of racism and stereotyping.

Movie
Sunset Boulevard
8.3
1950

Sunset Boulevard

A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.

Movie
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
7.8
1927

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

Movie
Stalag 17
7.7
1953

Stalag 17

It's a dreary Christmas 1944 for the American POWs in Stalag 17 and the men in Barracks 4, all sergeants, have to deal with a grave problem—there seems to be a security leak.

Movie
Metropolis
8.1
1927

Metropolis

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

Movie
Anatomy of a Murder
7.8
1959

Anatomy of a Murder

Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.

Movie
Freaks
7.8
1932

Freaks

A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

Movie
Dracula
7.2
1931

Dracula

British estate agent Renfield travels to Transylvania to meet the mysterious Count Dracula, who is interested in leasing a castle in London. After Dracula enslaves Renfield and drives him to insanity, the pair sail to London together and Dracula, a secret vampire, begins preying on London socialites.

Movie
Mifune
6.9
1999

Mifune

Kresten, newly wed, is on the threshold of a great career success in his father-in-law’s company. But when the death of his own father takes him back to his poverty-stricken childhood home, far out in the country, his career plans fall apart. For one thing he has to deal with his loveable, backward brother, who is now all alone; for another, he meets a stunning woman who comes to the farm as a housekeeper, in disguise of her real profession as a call-girl.

Movie
All Quiet on the Western Front
7.8
1930

All Quiet on the Western Front

When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.

Movie
Wings of Desire
7.8
1987

Wings of Desire

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds -- with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk -- that it might be possible for him to take human form.

Movie
The 400 Blows
8.0
1959

The 400 Blows

For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.

Movie
Men Call It Love
4.5
1931

Men Call It Love

Pre-code melodrama about high society marriage and fidelity.

Movie
Beauty and the Beast
7.5
1946

Beauty and the Beast

The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.

Movie
On the Waterfront
7.9
1954

On the Waterfront

A prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.

Movie
Pickpocket
7.3
1959

Pickpocket

Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.

Movie
Manhattan
7.7
1979

Manhattan

Manhattan explores how the life of a middle-aged television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.

Movie
A Streetcar Named Desire
7.6
1951

A Streetcar Named Desire

A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.

Movie

Recommended Movies

Pygmalion
7.0
1938

Pygmalion

When linguistics professor Henry Higgins boasts that he can pass off Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle as a princess with only six months' training, Colonel George Pickering takes him up on the bet. Eliza moves into Higgins's home and begins her rigorous training after the professor comes to a financial agreement with her dustman father, Alfred. But the plucky young woman is not the only one undergoing a transformation.

Movie
Another Thin Man
7.1
1939

Another Thin Man

Not even the joys of parenthood can stop married sleuths Nick and Nora Charles from investigating a murder on a Long Island estate.

Movie
The Mayor of Rione Sanità
6.1
2019

The Mayor of Rione Sanità

Antonio Barracano is a respected figure among the Neapolitan underworld, keeping order and administering justice according to his own criteria, beyond the law. One day he's faced with a dilemma after a youth asks him permission to kill his father.

Movie
I Married a Witch
6.8
1942

I Married a Witch

A 17th-century witch returns to wreak havoc in the life of a descendant of the Puritan witch hunter who burned her.

Movie
Imitation of Life
7.4
1959

Imitation of Life

In 1940s New York, a white widow who dreams of being on Broadway has a chance encounter with a black single mother, who becomes her maid.

Movie
Sleep, My Love
6.3
1948

Sleep, My Love

A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.

Movie
Sunday Bloody Sunday
6.6
1971

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Recently divorced career woman Alex Greville begins a romantic relationship with glamorous mod artist Bob Elkin, fully aware that he's also intimately involved with middle-aged doctor Daniel Hirsh. For both Alex and Daniel, the younger man represents a break with their repressive pasts, and though both know that Bob is seeing both of them, neither is willing to let go of the youth and vitality he brings to their otherwise stable lives.

Movie
Alexander's Ragtime Band
6.7
1938

Alexander's Ragtime Band

Classical violinist Roger Grant disappoints his family and teacher when he organizes a jazz band, but he and the band become successful. Roger falls in love with the band's singer, Stella, but his reluctance to lose her leads him to thwart her efforts to become a solo star. When the World War separates them in 1917, Stella marries Roger's best friend and, when Roger returns home after the war, an important concert at Carnegie Hall brings the corners of the romantic triangle together.

Movie
Jem: Truly Outrageous!
10.0
1986

Jem: Truly Outrageous!

With the help of her father's greatest creation, a holographic computer named Synergy, Jerrica Benton and her sisters team up to create the band Jem and the Holograms. Together, they will go head-to-head with their rivals, the Misfits and their greedy road manager Eric Raymond, in a battle of the bands for control of Mr. Benton's music company, Starlight Music.

Movie
The Executioner II: Karate Inferno
5.5
1974

The Executioner II: Karate Inferno

When both a priceless jewel and the daughter of a rich heiress are stolen by a master criminal, Koga and his gang are hired to retrieve both. But a double-cross leads to a risky high-security bank heist and loads of martial arts mayhem.

Movie
Zardoz
5.9
1974

Zardoz

In the far future, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.

Movie
Paris Is Burning
8.0
1991

Paris Is Burning

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

Movie
Bringing Up Baby
7.5
1938

Bringing Up Baby

David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby.

Movie
Badlands
7.5
1974

Badlands

An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town and her older greaser boyfriend embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota badlands.

Movie
It Happened One Night
7.8
1934

It Happened One Night

A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.

Movie
Blonde
5.9
2022

Blonde

From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.

Movie
The Pale Blue Eye
6.8
2022

The Pale Blue Eye

West Point, New York, 1830. When a cadet at the burgeoning military academy is found hanged with his heart cut out, the top brass summons former New York City constable Augustus Landor to investigate. While attempting to solve this grisly mystery, the reluctant detective engages the help of one of the cadets: a strange but brilliant young fellow by the name of Edgar Allan Poe.

Movie
A Christmas Carol
6.9
2009

A Christmas Carol

Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

Movie
Into the Wild
7.8
2007

Into the Wild

After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness.

Movie
Parasite
8.5
2019

Parasite

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

Movie