Friends lament "devastating" & sudden death of queer actor Wenne Alton Davis - LGBTQ Nation

"Queer actor Wenne Alton Davis - known for a variety of character and supporting roles in film and television, including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Normal Heart - died on Monday after being struck by an SUV in Midtown Manhattan. She was 61. Davis was crossing Broadway at West 53rd St. around 9 p.m. when the driver of a black Cadillac SUV with taxi and limousine plates made a left turn at the intersection and hit her. She was pronounced dead at the hospital with a fatal head injury."

"Friends say the actor was on her way to dinner to celebrate a successful audition when she died. "She had a dope audition. She knew she had got it, and I was waiting for her to tell me the good news," longtime friend and comic Joanna Briley told the . "That's what makes this even more devastating." Despite a steady career in front of the cameras, Davis kept her longtime job as a customs officer at John F. Kennedy International Airport to make ends meet. Briley said Davis told her recently, "I have three more summers" on the job."

"When she wasn't acting, Davis enjoyed boxing and hockey and was a member of the JFK Customs' hockey squad. "This heartbreaking loss is felt deeply across our entire JFK Customs family," the hockey team posted to Instagram. "This tragedy has been felt throughout our brother/sisterhood." "She had a huge love for New York, for acting, for her colleagues at JFK and, most of all, her family and her circle of friends (which was also huge)," Davis' agent said in a statement. He said the North Carolina native arrived in New York in her late 20s to pursue stand-up comedy before turning to acting."

Wenne Alton Davis, a 61-year-old queer actor known for roles in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Normal Heart, died after being struck by an SUV in Midtown Manhattan. The accident occurred around 9 p.m. as she crossed Broadway at West 53rd St.; the driver of a black Cadillac SUV with taxi and limousine plates made a left turn and struck her. Davis was pronounced dead at the hospital with a fatal head injury. She had been on her way to dinner to celebrate a successful audition. Davis worked as a JFK customs officer, enjoyed boxing and hockey, and arrived in New York from North Carolina in her late 20s to pursue stand-up comedy before turning to acting.

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