PEGGY LIPTON

(30 August 1946 - 11 May 2019)

The American actress and singer Peggy Lipton, who has died from cancer aged 72, made her name in the television cop show The Mod Squad in over a hundred episodes from 1968. The show dealt with social problems and without the use of guns. Later on she played Norma Jennings in David Lynch’s bizarre television series Twin Peaks and its film versions, Fire Walk With Me and The Missing Pieces. Her parents had encouraged Peggy to be a model as a teenager and to take drama lessons with Uta Hagen. She began her acting career in several popular TV shows until her first film, Disney’s Mosby’s Marauders in 1967, then Blue with Terence Stamp, after which The Mod Squad and other TV shows kept her busy till Franc Roddam’s War Party in 1988. Other films include Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects with Charles Bronson, True Identity with Lenny Henry, The Postman with Kevin Costner, The Wonder of Sex with Drew Barrymore, Jackpot with Daryl Hannah, When In Rome with Kristen Bell, and A Dog’s Purpose directed by Lasse Hallstrṏm, her last feature film. In between movies, she did more television and her last work was on another Twin Peaks TV series (in 2017). For a time she was a singer and issued several records. Peggy Lipton was married to the musician Quincy Jones from 1974 to 1989. They have two daughters, Rashida and Kidada, both actresses. In 2004 Peggy was first diagnosed with the colon cancer that finally took her in 2019.

MICHAEL DARVELL