Actress and former model Peggy Lipton, who shot to fame in the late 1960s on police series The Mod Squad, and later starred on David Lynch’s surreal cult favorite Twin Peaks, has died at 72 from cancer.
Lipton’s daughters — Kidada Jones and Parks and Recreation actress Rashida Jones — from her marriage to music producer Quincy Jones confirmed her death to the L.A. Times on Saturday. “She made her journey peacefully with her daughters and nieces by her side,” the Jones sisters said in a statement. “We feel so lucky for every moment we spent with her.”
New York-born Lipton began her modeling career in her teens before turning her sights on television with small roles on Bewitched, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and The Virginian. But it was her turn as Julie Barnes, the flower child turned undercover detective, on ABC’s counterculture crime drama The Mod Squad that brought Lipton national acclaim and launched her as a Hollywood “It” girl in the late ’60s and early ’70s. The show, which costarred Michael Cole and Clarence Williams III and ran for five seasons, earned the actress four Emmy nominations and the 1971 Golden Globe for best actress in a television drama.
Lipton also had a notable singing career, with three singles landing on the Billboard charts: “Stoney End,” “Lu,” “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” written by Donovan.
After marrying Jones in 1974, Lipton largely stepped away from performing to focus on her family. It wasn’t until Lipton and Jones split that she returned to acting in the role of Double R Diner owner Norma Jennings on Twin Peaks in 1989. Lipton returned for Showtime’s Twin Peaks revival, reprising her role as Norma Jennings in David Lynch’s surreal cult favorite. She also appeared in her daughter Rashida’s documentary Quincy about her ex-husband.
“My mom is so empathetic towards my dad, but it also was incredibly raw for her to go through what she went through and admit that the relationship didn’t work out,” Rashida Jones told EW last year. “But because they still know and love each other, I think that really helped.”
Lipton revealed in 2004 that she had been diagnosed with colon cancer and treated for it.
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