Toni Vaz, a screen veteran who blazed a trail as an extra, stunt performer and actress before becoming an activist and founder of the NAACP Image Awards, has died. She was 101.
A representative for the Motion Picture & Television Fund confirmed that she passed away on Oct. 4. No cause of death was provided. Per the rep, Vaz was “a beloved resident” at MPTF’s Woodland Hills home.
With roots in the British West Indies and Panama — her parents hailed from Barbados before immigrating to the United States — Vaz was one of four siblings raised in New York. She moved to Los Angeles from the East Coast in the 1950s to pursue a career as an actress and stuntwoman, which may have been a surprising career choice to some as her mother did not allow her to watch movies until she came of age. The leap of faith paid off with an early role as an extra in Joseph M. Newman’s Tarzan, the Ape Man for MGM. Released in 1959, the film featured Vaz in a scene opposite the studio’s Leo the Lion.
With a credit under her belt, Vaz moved on to Arnold Laven’s Anna Lucasta, starring Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis Jr., and Henry Koster’s The Singing Nun. She segued into more stunt work as one of the first Black women to dive headfirst into the profession. She doubled for legendary Cicely Tyson on the Mission: Impossible TV series and went on to appear in more than 50 films and TV shows in a career that found her traveling the world and captured on film dangling from helicopters and other impressive feats.
In a 2019 profile published by The Hollywood Reporter, Vaz told reporter Rebecca Ford that she felt pigeonholed. “In those days, the jobs Black people got were playing maids, hookers, Aunt Jemimas,” she said. “That upset me.” But rather than stew in anger, she joined the NAACP’s new Hollywood branch (with headquarters in Beverly Hills at the time) and came up with an idea to create an event that would elevate the image of Black performers in town. “We can play attorneys and doctors. So I thought, why don’t we change that image?” she said.
The first NAACP Image Awards went down in 1967 from inside the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom. “The mayor came. It was amazing,” recalled Vaz, who once ran her own modeling agency for women of color. She booked “Immie Girls” as models to work the ceremony. The awards show, which continues to this day, celebrates the accomplishments of people of color in media and entertainment and honors those who promote social justice through their work.
However, controversy followed. For years, Vaz said she didn’t get proper recognition for creating the star-studded event. Various reports credited different names for founding the show, from Maggie Hathaway to Davis Jr., so Vaz spent years trying to correct the record, as previously reported by THR. “I had a list of all of the people I used to write certified letters to, and nobody would ever answer me,” she recalled. “Never.”
The record was rectified in 2000. Vaz received an Image Award trophy of her own, an honor doled out along with a special tribute to honor her efforts. She also was a guest of honor at the March 2019 telecast, during which host Anthony Anderson called her a remarkable woman when introducing her to the crowd, which responded with a standing ovation. “Every time I used to see that show, for years, it used to bother me inside. But I feel good. I feel good now,” she said.
More recently, Vaz was featured in MPTF’s Reel Stories, Real Lives series with a segment delivered by NAACP Image Award winner Angela Bassett. She appeared in the MPTF’s 100th anniversary promotional campaign across Los Angeles. She had honors on the horizon: Vaz was approved to be feted with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 2025. It’s unclear if she will receive the honor posthumously.
Vaz is survived by nephew Errol Reed and niece Janice Powell-Bowen.
