Peggy Lipton, the actress who became a television star in The Mod Squad and later won a new audience in Twin Peaks, has died of cancer at the age of 72.
Her daughters, Kidada and Rashida Jones, confirmed her death on 11 May 2019. In a statement they said their mother had passed away peacefully with her daughters and nieces at her side, and asked for privacy for the family.
A face of late-1960s television
Lipton starred as Julie Barnes in The Mod Squad, an ABC police drama about three young people from troubled backgrounds who work undercover. The series ran from 1968 to 1973 and was praised for its young, diverse cast. Lipton won a Golden Globe for the role in 1971 and was nominated several times for an Emmy.
She largely stepped away from acting after marrying record producer Quincy Jones in 1974. The couple had two daughters before separating, and their marriage ended in divorce in 1990.
A second act in Twin Peaks
Lipton returned to the screen at the end of the 1980s. Her best-known later role was Norma Jennings, owner of the Double R Diner, in David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks, which first aired in 1990. She played the part again in the 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and in the 2017 revival series.
She also wrote openly about her life, career and health in a memoir, Breathing Out, published in 2005, and had spoken publicly about her earlier treatment for colon cancer.
Sources: statement by Kidada Jones and Rashida Jones (11 May 2019), published career records.