Actress and One of the First Super Models, Dead at 72
Peggy Lipton was, in many respects, a “super model” before the expression ever existed. In an era when models only modeled and had well known faces (and even figures), we rarely knew who they were. Lipton changed all that, enjoying a successful television career that included being one of the leads in the revolutionary “Mod Squad” and as an actress in the cult classic series, “Twin Peaks”. She died after a battle with colon cancer at the age of 72.
The LA Times reports:
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.
UPI notes:
“She made her journey peacefully with her daughters and nieces by her side,” a statement from the family said. “We feel so lucky for every moment we spent with her.”
Variety noted the Golden Globe-winner also appeared in Rashida’s sitcom Angie Tribeca, as well as the TV shows Claws, Popular, Alias, Bewitched and The Virginian, and the films The Postman and Crash.
Entertainment Weekly reports:
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.
