Career
Born in Chicago, Vance graduated from nearby Thornton Township High School in 1972. In high school she was active in theater and was a member of the debate team. She later attended Roosevelt University and graduated with honors. She then studied drama at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.
Vance was the first African American woman to become an SNL repertory player (not to be confused with Yvonne Hudson from season six, who first appeared as a recurring extra for season four and season five and was hired as a feature player during Jean Doumanian's notoriously shaky sixth season), the only SNL cast member to have a learning disability(Vance was dyslectic and, according to Al Franken in the book, Live from New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, she had trouble memorizing lines and reading cue cards, though this was not made apparent in most cases and, in one case, ad-libbing covered it up), was the first lesbian cast member hired(though her sexual orientation never became public knowledge until her death), and the only black lesbian cast member as of 2012. She is best remembered for the sketch "That Black Girl," (a spoof of the 1960s sitcom That Girl), and for her character Cabrini Green Harlem Watts Jackson, a teenage mother who dispensed advice on the do's and don'ts of being pregnant. Both were recurring characters during her time on SNL.
Vance appeared on SNL during a time when critics and fans were greatly disappointed in Lorne Michaels' return to his famous sketch comedy show (following the failure of his other sketch show: ABC's The New Show) and were calling for the show to end due to a decline in quality. Vance herself was frustrated over being put into roles that were stereotypically associated with young, black women (such as waitresses, nurses, secretaries, unwed, welfare-dependent mothers, and "mammy"-style maids/house slaves in Civil War-based sketches). The latter role was made evident during the episode hosted by Oprah Winfrey in spring of 1986 where in the cold opening, Vance played Lorne Michaels' personal slave (who was actually supposed to be the character Celie from the movie The Color Purple) who convinces Michaels to force Oprah into performing stereotypically black roles by beating her, only to have Oprah choke Lorne in a headlock while opening the show with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" In a short musical sketch on the same episode, Vance sang "I Play The Maids" (a spin on the Barry Manilow song, "I Write The Songs"), a satirical song that expressed frustration over black actresses (and herself) being typecast as maids in films and on television shows. Ironically, one of Danitra Vance's celebrity impersonations was of Cicely Tyson (in The Pee Wee Herman Thanksgiving Special sketch), who was known for not playing any role that stereotyped African-American women and, during her hosting stint on the fourth season (1978-1979), was shocked and disgusted that Garrett Morris was put in lesser roles on the show.
Vance ultimately chose to leave SNL at the end of the season (along with many other cast members from that season who were dismissed, including Joan Cusack, Robert Downey, Jr., Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall, and Terry Sweeney--this last, another homosexual cast member, recruited for the 1985-1986 cast, was the show's only gay male to be hired as of 2012.
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