Popular novelist Fannie Hurst got the idea for Imitation of Life during a road trip to Canada with African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston during which she saw first-hand the depth of racial prejudice. The result was the story of two mothers, businesswoman Bea and housekeeper Delilah, who find success with a chain of waffle restaurants using Bea's business skills and Delilah's recipes. Their success is tainted by problems with their daughters. Bea's daughter, Jessie, becomes her romantic rival, while Delilah's light-skinned daughter, Peola, rejects her mother and attempts to pass for white.

Hurst wasn't happy with the book, but after a year of writing, she couldn't afford to turn down an offer of $45,000 for the rights to serialize it in Pictorial Review under the title Sugar House. Then she panicked and tried to return the $5,000 advance Harper & Bros. had paid for the book rights. Instead of accepting her offer, they made Imitation of Life their major offering for spring 1933.

Imitation of Life hit number nine on the New York Times best seller list and went through nine printings in its initial release.

The book's reviews were mixed, with the best notices going to the depiction of Delilah and the story's racial issues. Those issues also brought Hurst an impressive amount of fan mail thanking her for her depiction of the African-American characters.

Universal bought the screen rights to Imitation of Life and produced a faithful screen adaptation in 1934 under John Stahl's direction (he had previously directed the very successful first version of Hurst's Back Street in 1932). Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers played the mothers, with Rochelle Hudson and Fredi Washington as their daughters. The film was a major box office success.

Universal Pictures was suffering from financial problems in the late '50s. Only producer Ross Hunter was consistently delivering solid box office returns. Executives particularly valued his ability to deliver glamorous productions on relatively small budgets.

The idea for remaking Imitation of Life came up in 1956, when Hunter was looking for a follow-up to All That Heaven Allows (1955), a hit romance co-starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson in the romance of an older woman and younger man.

While developing the re-make, Hunter took Fannie Hurst to lunch and asked for her ideas about updating the story.

After Lana Turner's success in Peyton Place (1957), which pointed to a new career for her as the star of big-screen soap operas, she was Universal's only choice for the female lead. Even though she was currently the subject of a major scandal after daughter Cheryl Crane killed Turner's lover, mobster Johnny Stompanato, Hunter insisted on offering her the role.

Turner hesitated about accepting the role, fearing that the combination of the scandal and the recent financial disappointment of Another Time, Another Place (1958) had put her in a very tenuous position. Not only could she not risk another flop, but she wasn't sure she was ready to go back to work. She also thought the plot about a single mother who discovers her teenaged daughter and she are in love with the same man was a little too close to the rumors about a romantic triangle involving herself, her daughter and Stompanato.

Finally, Hunter and Turner's agent, Paul Kohner, convinced her that making the film was the only way to lay the rumors to rest.

To keep the budget under control, Turner agreed to lower her fee in return for half of the film's profits.

Director Douglas Sirk suggested changing the leading lady from a businesswoman to an actress. Stories about women in the workplace had declined in popularity since the '30s, and the change also reflected Turner's notoriety as an actress and single mother.

Although the Sarah Jane role had been played by black actress Washington in the original film version, for the re-make Universal cast white actress Susan Kohner, the daughter of Turner's agent Paul Kohner and Mexican actress Lupita Tovar.

More than 40 women were considered for the role of Annie (Delilah in the original), including Pearl Bailey and classical singer Marian Anderson. The role finally went to Juanita Moore, who had mostly played uncredited roles as African-American domestics to that point. The 36-year-old actress was barely old enough to play 22-year-old Susan Kohner's mother.

Natalie Wood was first considered for the part of Turner's daughter, but eventually Universal went with its own contract player, Sandra Dee, whom they were grooming for stardom. Two other popular releases in 1959, Gidget and A Summer Place, would make her a star and contribute to Imitation of Life's box office success.

Leading man John Gavin was being groomed for stardom at Universal, where he was seen as a younger version of Rock Hudson. He had already played the lead in Douglas Sirk's A Time to Love, and a Time to Die (1958). Casting him opposite Lana Turner seemed a logical step in his development, mirroring Hudson's casting opposite Jane Wyman in Sirk's Magnificent Obsession (1954).

Agent Henry Willson had hoped that new client Troy Donahue would fare as well working with Sirk as had his most famous client, Rock Hudson. Sirk had given Donahue a small role in The Tarnished Angels (1958), but when he offered him the role of the fraternity boy who discovers girlfriend Kohner is black and beats her up, Willson almost turned down the role. He was afraid playing a violent racist would damage Donahue's career.

by Frank Miller