legend and groundbreaking stuntwoman Toni Vaz has died aged 101.
The star passed away on October 4 at the Motion Picture Fund retirement community in Woodland Hills, , but Vaz's cause of death was not confirmed.
An actor originally, then a pioneering stunt performer, Vaz also founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People () Image Awards, as part of her incredible career. As a child, Vaz grew up in with her mother, a Barbadian immigrant, who wouldn't let her watch movies, but as soon as she was old enough, she headed to Hollywood. Her career kicked off when she was cast as an extra in 1959 movie Tarzan the Ape Man, going on to take roles in Anna Lucasta and The Singing Nun (1966) - but then she found a love for stunt work, a first as a Black woman.
She then moved into more stunt work more permanently, doubling for Cicely Tyson on the Mission: Impossible TV show, and going on to make appearances in more than 50 films and TV shows, racking up more than 20,000 hours of screen time across her career.
Paying tribute to the activist on X, American actress Yvette Nicole Brown wrote: "Getting to meet the great #ToniVaz thru my work with @mptf was a highlight of my career & life. ICYMI Toni CREATED the @NAACP #ImageAwards & she was set to get her star on the #HollywoodWalkOfFame THIS year. Such a well-deserved honor! #RIPToniVaz"
Deciding there needed to be more recognition in Hollywood for people of all backgrounds, Vaz founded the NAACP Image Awards in 1967. Not only was she a hit on-screen, she also ran her own modelling agency for women of colour, and booked "Immie Girls" as models for the first ceremony, at Beverley Hilton's International Ballroom.
The NAACP honoured the star in 2021 with the Image Founders' Award. When Anthony Anderson introduced the 50th anniversary ceremony, he said: "We have a remarkable woman to thank for it all. … [Vaz] was saddened by the quality of roles given to Black actors. So she took action. She joined the NAACP’s Hollywood branch and helped to develop an idea for an awards show that would feature us in best way possible. She and other fought to change our image, and thus the NAACP Image Award were born."
When introducing Vaz’s Founder Award, Yvette Nicole Brown described her as "a true Black innovator", saying: "At a time when there were severely limited roles available to 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. That’s when the NAACP Image Awards was born. It gave us a platform to see each other the way we see ourselves."
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