- Vaz began acting in films in the late 1950s before moving into stunt work.
- The first NAACP Image Awards ceremony was held in 1967.
- She will be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2025.
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Toni Vaz, the actress who became a pioneering stuntwoman, has died at the age of 101.
He died Oct. 4 at the Motion Picture Fund campus in Woodland Hills, according to a news release issued Friday.
The cause of his death was not immediately available.
Vaz was also known for founding the NAACP Image Awards, which held its first ceremony in 1967.
Vaz, who grew up in New York City, was banned from going to the movies by her mother, an immigrant from Barbados, when she was a child, according to Deadline.
Toni Vaz, the actress who became a pioneering stuntwoman, has died aged 101. She was also known for founding the NAACP Image Awards; photographed in 2019 in Hollywood
But that didn’t stop her from heading west to Hollywood once she was an adult.
One of Vaz’s first acting jobs was when he acted as an extra in the 1959 adventure film Tarzan the Ape Man, in which he had the unenviable task of acting in a scene with a live lion, which also turned out to be the MGM mascot, Leo the Lion. .
According to the publication, Vaz also had roles in Anna Lucasta (1958) and 1966’s The Singing Nun, and it was the latter that helped her break into the field of stunt work.
She would go on to perform stunts for iconic black stars, including Cecily Tyson, for an appearance on the television series Mission: Impossible, as well as Eartha Kitt and Juanita Moore, among others.
Vaz amassed over 50 specialist credits after becoming an in-demand artist.
She wanted to recognize other people of color who contribute to Hollywood and the entertainment industry, while also urging studios to hire talented Black artists, which led her to found the NAACP Image Awards.
The ceremony was first held in 1967 in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel, hosted by Sammy Davis Jr., Maggie Hathaway and Willis Edwards.
In 2020, Vaz appeared at the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s Reel Stories, Real Lives event, where Oscar nominee Angela Bassett, a multiple NAACP Image Award recipient, shared her life story.
Her early roles included roles in Tarzan the Ape Man (1959) and Anna Lucasta (1958), but a role in The Singing Nun (1966) helped her break into the world of acrobatics.
Vaz went on to do stunts for stars such as Cecily Tyson, Eartha Kitt and Juanita Moore, among others; pictured with Yvette Nicole Brown in 2021
Vaz founded the NAACP Image Awards. The first ceremony was held in 1967.
The MPTF supports both working and retired actors by providing them with health insurance and other social services for their well-being.
In 2021, Community star Yvette Nicole Brown presented Vaz with the Image Awards’ Founders Award, calling her a “true Black innovator” in her presentation.
“At a time when there were very limited roles available for black talent in Hollywood, a determined actress saw an opportunity to showcase our work and change the perception of African Americans in the entertainment industry,” Brown said. “That’s when the NAACP Image Awards were born… It gave us a platform to see each other the same way we see ourselves.”
Before his death, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that it planned to honor the stunt icon with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, scheduled to open in 2025.
