*Peggy Lipton, who found fame as a model and actress in the late 60s for her role on “Mod Squad” and later “Twin Peaks” has died. She was 72.
Cancer was the cause of her death which was announced on Saturday by Kidada and Rashida Jones, her daughters from a marriage to Quincy Jones, the legendary music producer.
“She made her journey peacefully with her daughters and nieces by her side,” Lipton’s daughters said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “We feel so lucky for every moment we spent with her.”
Born in New York on Aug. 30, 1946, Lipton’s Wikipedia profile says she was raised on Long Island with her brothers, Robert, who became an actor, and Kenneth. She attended Lawrence Junior High School and the Professional Children’s School. Sexually abused by an uncle, Lipton was a nervous, withdrawn child. She had a stutter that at times prevented her from saying her own name. In 1964, the family moved to Los Angeles; there Lipton became what she described as a “Topanga Canyon hippie,” exploring meditation and yoga, and subsisting on rice cakes and cottage cheese.
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Here’s more from the LA Times regarding Peggy Lipton:
The waifish, blond Lipton had just turned 21 when she rocketed to fame in 1968 as the street-smart flower child Julie Barnes, one of a trio of Los Angeles undercover “hippie cops” on the ABC crime series “The Mod Squad.”
One of pop culture’s first efforts to reckon seriously with the counterculture – and one of the first TV shows to feature an interracial cast – the series, which costarred Michael Cole and Clarence Williams III, dealt with issues such as domestic violence, abortion, police brutality, the Vietnam War and drugs. Over five seasons, the series earned Lipton, one of the “it” girls of her time, four Emmy nominations and a 1971 Golden Globe award for best actress in a TV drama.
Her role and later marriage to Jones, who is black, put Lipton at the center of the passions of a restive America dealing with racism and a post-World War II generation who were breaking free from their parents. The “Mod Squad’s” edgy music and hip slang marked a significant shift from shows like “Gunsmoke” and “Leave It to Beaver.” But while the show turned the mini-skirt-and-bellbottoms-clad Lipton into a fashion icon, she found the spotlight uncomfortable.
“I never saw myself as trend-setting,” Lipton told The Times in 1993. “We were always working. Fame really drove me into my house. I was very paranoid. I didn’t like going out. I had no idea how to be comfortable with the press. I was very young. It was really hard for me.”
Get the rest of this LA Times story on the passing of Quincy Jones’ ex-wife, Peggy Lipton, at MSN News.
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