Imitation of Life
E731417
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American melodrama film directed by Douglas Sirk that explores race, class, and motherhood through the intertwined lives of a white actress and her Black housekeeper and their daughters.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Imitation of Life canonical | 8 |
| Imitation of Life (1959 film) | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8408628 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Imitation of Life Context triple: [Russell Metty, notableWork, Imitation of Life]
-
A.
Mame
Mame is the flamboyant, free-spirited title character of the stage musical "Mame," known for her larger-than-life personality and unconventional approach to life and family.
-
B.
Valley of the Dolls
Valley of the Dolls is a 1967 drama film, based on Jacqueline Susann’s bestselling novel, that follows three women navigating fame, addiction, and personal turmoil in the entertainment industry.
-
C.
My Mammy
"My Mammy" is a popular early 20th-century American song closely associated with Al Jolson and classic vaudeville and film performances.
-
D.
The Girl from 10th Avenue
The Girl from 10th Avenue is a 1935 romantic drama film starring Bette Davis and Ian Hunter, known for its story of a working-class woman who impulsively marries a heartbroken lawyer.
-
E.
Baby Doll
Baby Doll is a 1956 American black comedy–drama film, adapted from Tennessee Williams’s work, noted for its controversial sexual themes and Southern Gothic style.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Imitation of Life Target entity description: Imitation of Life is a 1959 American melodrama film directed by Douglas Sirk that explores race, class, and motherhood through the intertwined lives of a white actress and her Black housekeeper and their daughters.
-
A.
Mame
Mame is the flamboyant, free-spirited title character of the stage musical "Mame," known for her larger-than-life personality and unconventional approach to life and family.
-
B.
Valley of the Dolls
Valley of the Dolls is a 1967 drama film, based on Jacqueline Susann’s bestselling novel, that follows three women navigating fame, addiction, and personal turmoil in the entertainment industry.
-
C.
My Mammy
"My Mammy" is a popular early 20th-century American song closely associated with Al Jolson and classic vaudeville and film performances.
-
D.
The Girl from 10th Avenue
The Girl from 10th Avenue is a 1935 romantic drama film starring Bette Davis and Ian Hunter, known for its story of a working-class woman who impulsively marries a heartbroken lawyer.
-
E.
Baby Doll
Baby Doll is a 1956 American black comedy–drama film, adapted from Tennessee Williams’s work, noted for its controversial sexual themes and Southern Gothic style.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf | film ⓘ |
| aspectOf | Hollywood melodrama cycle of the 1950s ⓘ |
| authorOfSourceWork | Fannie Hurst NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| basedOn |
Imitation of Life (1934 film)
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Imitation of Life (novel) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| character |
Sarah Jane
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Susie NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| cinematographer | Russell Metty NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| colorProcess | Technicolor ⓘ |
| composer | Frank Skinner NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| director | Douglas Sirk NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| distributedBy | Universal Pictures ⓘ |
| distributor | Universal-International NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| editor | Milton Carruth NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| genre |
drama film
ⓘ
melodrama ⓘ |
| hasTheme |
mother–daughter conflict
ⓘ
racial identity ⓘ social mobility ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| leadCharacter |
Annie Johnson
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Lora Meredith NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
class
ⓘ
motherhood ⓘ race ⓘ |
| narrativeFocus |
intertwined lives of a white actress and her Black housekeeper
ⓘ
relationships between mothers and daughters ⓘ |
| notableFor |
critique of American racism
ⓘ
depiction of women’s ambition and sacrifice ⓘ exploration of racial passing ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | English ⓘ |
| partOf | Douglas Sirk filmography ⓘ |
| producer | Ross Hunter NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| productionCompany | Universal-International NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| releaseDate | 1959-04-17 ⓘ |
| releaseYear | 1959 ⓘ |
| remakeOf | Imitation of Life (1934 film) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| runtimeMinutes | 125 ⓘ |
| screenwriter |
Allan Scott
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Eleanore Griffin NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| setInPeriod | mid-20th century ⓘ |
| starring |
John Gavin
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Juanita Moore NERFINISHED ⓘ Lana Turner NERFINISHED ⓘ Mahalia Jackson NERFINISHED ⓘ Sandra Dee NERFINISHED ⓘ Susan Kohner NERFINISHED ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Imitation of Life Description of subject: Imitation of Life is a 1959 American melodrama film directed by Douglas Sirk that explores race, class, and motherhood through the intertwined lives of a white actress and her Black housekeeper and their daughters.
Referenced by (10)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
this entity surface form:
Imitation of Life (1959 film)