Juanita Moore

She speaks without a trace of bitterness, no apparent residue from her long years in Hollywood, toiling in a time and place where dark-skinned actors were lucky to get through a casting agent's door, much less land a non-demeaning part. She talks even of her finest hour, and its inevitable disappointing aftermath, with a wistfulness and calm that belie the emotions she must have felt at the time. Who even remembers her name today? Juanita Moore. What movies was she in again?

The glossy, über-melodramatic films of director Douglas Sirk and producer Ross Hunter, which were so popular in the 1950s, are deceptively simple. The glitz, glamour, Dior necklaces and Russell Metty's florid cinematography are a kind of ruse that allowed Sirk to explore such serious issues as sexual mores, class structure and racism. Todd Haynes was significantly influenced by Sirk, especially his 1955 "All That Heaven Allows," in his acclaimed 2002 drama, "Far From Heaven." Directors including the late Rainer Werner Fassbinder and "Inglourious Basterds' " Quentin Tarantino have also tipped their hat to Sirk.

The glossy, über-melodramatic films of director Douglas Sirk and producer Ross Hunter, which were so popular in the 1950s, are deceptively simple. The glitz, glamour, Dior necklaces and Russell Metty's florid cinematography are a kind of ruse that allowed Sirk to explore such serious issues as sexual mores, class structure and racism. Todd Haynes was significantly influenced by Sirk, especially his 1955 "All That Heaven Allows," in his acclaimed 2002 drama, "Far From Heaven." Directors including the late Rainer Werner Fassbinder and "Inglourious Basterds' " Quentin Tarantino have also tipped their hat to Sirk.

She speaks without a trace of bitterness, no apparent residue from her long years in Hollywood, toiling in a time and place where dark-skinned actors were lucky to get through a casting agent's door, much less land a non-demeaning part. She talks even of her finest hour, and its inevitable disappointing aftermath, with a wistfulness and calm that belie the emotions she must have felt at the time. Who even remembers her name today? Juanita Moore. What movies was she in again?

Thank you for remembering Juanita Moore and for the update on her career ("A Hard Lesson From Hollywood's Past," by Eric Harrison, July 9). "Imitation of Life" is a must-see despite the transparent performances of Lana Turner and Sandra Dee. Moore carries the film. I challenge anyone not to cry, nay, bawl, for her character in that film. It is a travesty that she didn't make more films, but I am glad, at least, to hear that she is back and doing well. I hope she realizes that she has affected lives along the way. DONNA PIERSON Long Beach What kind of patronizing, insulting terminology is "moon-pie face" anyway?

The old joke about hometowns is that they're nice places to be from . But some people actually have fond memories of their native cities. For instance: Richard Tyler, fashion designer, Los Angeles. Hometown: Melbourne, Australia. "My parents are what I most love about my hometown. But Melbourne itself was great to grow up in because it's a cultural and fashionable city. I did hate the weather, though: It rained a lot."

With professional black theater so scarce in Los Angeles (indeed everywhere), even a two-performance revival of James Baldwin's creaky "The Amen Corner" by the Cambridge Players had to be welcome news. True, it was never a great play, but the Broadway version originated in Los Angeles in 1964 in a wildly successful production staged by the late Frank Silvera. Beah Richards rose to stardom in its central role and almost single-handedly carried the play's success on Broadway.

Authorities offered a reward of up to $25,000 and established a tip line in an attempt to solve the slayings of two Florida civil rights pioneers whose home was blown up on Christmas night in 1951. The investigation into the deaths of Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore has been revived periodically, most recently by Atty. Gen. Charlie Crist.

In an interview with the L.A. Times 20 years ago, Sidney Poitier, the first African American superstar and the first to win the lead actor Oscar (for 1963's "Lilies of the Field") discussed the extreme prejudice and hardships faced by African American performers in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. "The guys who were forerunners to me, like Canada Lee, Rex Ingram, Clarence Muse and women like Hattie McDaniel, Louise Beavers and Juanita Moore, they were terribly boxed in," Poitier said then.

In the news: Comedy writer Paul Ryan, on Serbs saying they'll kill U.N. peacekeepers if NATO uses airstrikes and Bosnians threatening to use them as human shields if NATO doesn't: "The only way out is the Clinton Solution: Promise both, do neither." Cutler Daily Scoop, on Republicans demanding to know how White House personnel could initially miss finding the torn-up suicide note of Clinton aide Vince Foster: "Easy.

By the time she was 23, Susan Kohner had won two Golden Globes and received an Academy Award nomination for supporting actress for her scene-stealing performance in the classic 1959 melodrama "Imitation of Life." But just five years later, she gave up her movie career and never looked back. "I didn't have the passion anymore," says Kohner, 67. "The passion went into another direction and I never missed it. I think part of it was the man I married [the late John Weitz].

Edmund J. Cambridge, an actor and director who was a founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company in New York City in the late 1960s and co-founder of an acting school in Hollywood that has trained hundreds of at-risk students over the last 30 years, has died. He was 80. Cambridge, a longtime Los Angeles resident, died in New York on Aug. 18 of complications from a fall he suffered while visiting relatives in Harlem.