Susan Kohner

Susan Kohner
from trailer for Imitation of Life (1959)
Born	Susanna Kohner (1936-11-11) November 11, 1936 (age 80) Los Angeles, California, United States
Other names	Susan Weitz
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1955–1964
Spouse(s)	John Weitz (1964–2002) (his death)
Children	2

Susanna "Susan" Kohner (born November 11, 1936) is an American actress who worked in film and television. She is best known for her role as Sarah Jane in Imitation of Life (1959), for which she was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe award. She played a light-complexioned mixed-race woman who "passed" for white as a young adult.

After Kohner married menswear designer and writer John Weitz in 1964, she retired from acting to devote time to her family. Her two sons, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, have both become film directors, screenwriters and sometime actors.

Kohner was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Lupita Tovar, a Mexican-born actress who had a career in Hollywood, and Paul Kohner, a film producer who was born in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. Her mother was Roman Catholic, and her father was Czech Jewish.

Most of Kohner's film roles came during the late 1950s and early 1960s, including co-starring with Sal Mineo in both Dino (1957) and The Gene Krupa Story (1959).

In her most notable role, Kohner played Sarah Jane in Imitation of Life, portraying an African-American woman who "passes" as white. The 1959 film was a remake of a 1934 version of a book of the same name. The expensive, glossy Ross Hunter production, directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Lana Turner, was a box office smash. In addition, Kohner was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in the film, and won a Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actress and one as Best New Actress.