DANITRA VANCE, who passed on this date (b: July 1954), was an American comedian and actress who was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) during its eleventh season in 1985.

Raised in Chicago’s South Side, Vance performed for The Second City, was an “Off-Broadway favorite,” and was the first Black woman of the primary SNL cast and, following Denny Dillon and along with Terry Sweeney, one of the first LGBT members, though she was not out to the public during her lifetime. Her comedy and theater work featured themes of social issues, including that of being consistently stereotyped during casting. Throughout her career, she received an Obie Award and an NAACP Image Award. She also appeared in feature films like Sticky Fingers, Limit Up, and Jumpin’ at the Boneyard.

Vance was the first Black woman to become an SNL repertory player in 1985; and the second lesbian cast member hired after Denny Dillon, though Vance’s sexual orientation was not public knowledge until her death. Her casting alongside Terry Sweeney (the show’s first out gay male cast member) was also the first time that Saturday Night Live had two gay cast members.

Vance joined the SNL cast during a time of great transition and turbulence for the show, and she became frustrated over repeatedly having characters stereotypical of young Black women written for her. She was ultimately let go by SNL at the end of the 1986 season, along with many other cast members, including Sweeney, Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Randy Quaid, and Anthony Michael Hall.

In 1990, Vance was diagnosed with breast cancer, and performed several works through remission and recurrence until her death in 1994. In the final years of her life, she requested that her family host her services at an amusement park.