Peggy Lipton, 'Mod Squad' and 'Twin Peaks' star, dies at 72

May 12, 2019, 4:16 AM UTC

By Variety

LOS ANGELES — Peggy Lipton, actress and singer known for her roles in “The Mod Squad” and “Twin Peaks,” and the mother of Rashida Jones, has died at 72 of cancer.

Her daughers Rashida and Kidada Jones announced her death in a statement. She had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004.

Lipton won a Golden Globe and was Emmy-nominated four times for her role as flower child Julie Barnes in “The Mod Squad,” in which she starred from 1968 to 1973. She became a fashion icon for her hippie outfits on the show, which featured three hip undercover cops, “One black, one white, one blonde,” as the marketing campaign described.

Clarence Williams III and Michael Cole were her fellow bell bottom-wearing undercover officers in one of the first shows to feature a multiracial cast and one of the first to depict the growing counter-culture movement.

After a long break to raise her daughters, she returned to acting on David Lynch’s original “Twin Peaks” series, on which she played Norma Jennings, the owner of the Double R Diner. She reprised her role in the recent revival of the series.

On “Angie Tribeca,” she played Rashida Jones’ mother as Peggy Tribeca. She recently appeared in “Claws” and “A Dog’s Purpose” and had roles in Kevin Costner’s “The Postman” and on “Popular,” “Alias” and “Crash.”

Claire Danes played the “blonde cop” role in the 1999 feature film version of “The Mod Squad,” and Lipton returned for a brief cameo.

At the height of her popularity in 1968, she released a self-titled album and had a hit in 1970 with a cover of Donovan’s “Wear Your Love Like Heaven.” In her 2006 memoir “Breathing Out,” she describes being abused as a child by an uncle and suffering several abusive relationships. Lipton was romantically linked to Paul McCartney, Sammy Davis Jr. and Elvis Presley.

Born in New York, she started modeling at age 15 and started acting at 19, appearing in TV series including “The John Forsythe Show,” “Bewitched” and “The Virginian.”

She married musician and producer Quincy Jones in 1974, making headlines and facing racism for the controversial interracial relationship. They divorced in 1990 after separating in 1986.