Wenne Alton Davis, the actress fatally struck by the driver of a Cadillac SUV in Midtown was excited about likely securing a role in a commercial and wanted to get back on stage as a stand-up comic, a longtime friend said Thursday.
Just a week before her death on Monday, the 61-year-old victim, whose real name was Wendy Davis, had a very positive audition for a commercial in which she would play a director and was excited about her future as a performer, comedian Joanna Briley recalled.
“She had a dope audition. She knew she had got it and I was waiting for her to tell me the good news,” Briley told the Daily News. “That’s what makes this even more devastating.”
“”I’m stunned,” she added. “She was so empowered and was such a beautiful light. She was doing so much and she wanted to do so much still.”
Wendy Davis (left) with Joanna Brily and Moonie Desvarieux. (Courtesy of Joanna Brily)
Davis was crossing Broadway at W. 53rd St. when the driver of a black Cadillac XT6 SUV with Taxi and Limousine Commission plates slammed into her as he turned onto Broadway about 9p.m., cops said.
She suffered a massive head injury and was rushed to Mount Sinai West, where she died. She was struck less than four blocks from Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
A neighbor in Forest Hills said Davis was meeting friends for dinner the night she was hit. Briley suspects she was telling her friends the good news about the commercial. Her audition was a week earlier, on Dec. 1.
“I hope she was skipping around the city, happy with this role,” Briley said. “I saw in Wendy how proud she was about the role. I would love to know if she banked it.”
Over the years Davis secured about a dozen small roles in television series includnig Amazon Prime’s hit “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and NBC’s “Blindspot”and “New Amsterdam.”
She and Briley bonded over working civil service jobs to make ends meet between acting gigs. Davis worked at JFK Airport as a Customs officer while Briley is an MTA token booth clerk.
“We were both paying our dues,” Briley joked.
“I can only describe Wenne Davis as a bright light,” said Jamie Harris, senior vice president of Clear Talent Group, the agency that represented Davis. “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.”
“She was someone for whom friendliness and kindness were not what she did but more who she was as a person,” he said. “Literally, no one I’ve spoken to can believe that she’s no longer with us.”
Wendy Davis performed under the stage name Wenne Alton Davis, appearing in small parts, including as a cop (left) in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” (Amazon Prime)
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 said on Instagram. “This tragedy has been felt throughout our brother/sisterhood.”
Davis and Briley became friends as they took improv classes together years ago under acclaimed acting teacher and coach JoAnn Beckson. The two rekindled their friendship, both on social media and in person, after learning about Beckson’s death in August, Briley said.
“We met up at 8 p.m. one night and didn’t leave there until 2 a.m.,” Briley recalled. “We spent the night laughing and reminiscing about the good old days and what we have to do as women in the industry to do our own thing.”
The two also talked about eventually retiring from their day jobs — but never their passion for performing.
“I told her I got about 10 more years left (at the MTA),” Briley said.
When asked about how much longer she planned to work at JFK Airport, Davis smiled and told Briley, “I have three more summers.”
“It felt really good to hear it that way,” Briley reflected. “The summer is fun. The summer is sunshine.”
The two last saw each other on Nov. 7 when Davis attended Briley’s one-woman stand-up show “Swipe This” at the New York Comedy Festival.
Davis had told Briley she wanted to get back into stand-up comedy, her first love when she moved to the city from North Carolina in her early 20s.
“She wanted to get back on stage and I was lining up some open mics with supportive audiences so she could ease into it,” Briley said, heartbroken that she wouldn’t see her friend on stage again.
Davis’ IMDB lists 10 credits, starting with a role in the 2004 short film “Ladies Room” and including a bit part in the 2011 Michael Fassbender drama “Shame.”