Peggy Lipton, ‘Mod Squad’ and ‘Twin Peaks’ Star, Dead at 72

Actress Peggy Lipton, best known for her roles on The Mod Squad and Twin Peaks, died Saturday after a battle with cancer. She was 72.

Lipton’s daughters from her marriage to music producer Quincy Jones, Kaida and Rashida Jones, announced her death in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.

“She made her journey peacefully with her daughters and nieces by her side,” the statement read. “We feel so lucky for every moment we spent with her.”

Kaida and Rashida continued, “We can’t put all of our feelings into words right now, but we will say: Peggy was and will always be our beacon of light, both in this world and beyond. She will always be a part of us.”

The New York-born Lipton began her career in Hollywood at an early age. She started modeling at 15 and made her TV debut at 19 in The John Forsythe Show. She went on to make appearances in some of the most popular ’60s shows, including The Virginian, Bewitched and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

In 1968, at just 21, Lipton suddenly became an overnight star as Julie Barnes, a street-smart flower child on ABC’s hit crime drama The Mod Squad. The series became a major part of the counterculture movement, featuring an interracial cast and covering serious issues from police brutality to drugs. The show ran five seasons and earned her four Emmy nominations and a 1971 Golden Globe nomination.

Lipton also released a self-titled album on Ode Records in 1968 and several singles through 1970.

Lipton married Jones in 1974 and left acting to focus on raising their daughters, aside from a 1979 Mod Squad reunion. After their divorce in 1989, Lipton returned to acting, playing Norma Jennings on Twin Peaks.

In a 1993 interview with the Times, Lipton said it was scary to go back to acting.

“It was very scary,” Lipton said at the time. “I had a push-pull thing inside me that I wanted to do it…. I had become so insulated in my world as a mother, that I didn’t know how to pick up the phone and call anybody to put myself out there.”

In more recent years, Lipton took supporting roles in movies and made guest appearances on television shows. In 2017, she returned to Twin Peaks as Norma and played Rashida’s on-screen mother in two episodes of TBS’ Angie Tribeca.

Lipton’s final film roles were in the 2010 Kristen Bell romantic comedy When In Rome and Lasse Hallstrom’s 2017 movie A Dog’s Purpose.

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