Clarence Williams III, an actor best known for portraying Linc Hayes on “The Mod Squad,” passed away on June 4th at the age of 81.
Williams, Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole all broke through on the 1968 counterculture cop show and went on to success in the years afterwards on stage, film and TV. He scored a Tony nomination early in his career for the play “Slow Dance on the Killing Ground”.
On-screen Williams played Prince’s father in “Purple Rain,” recurred as FBI Agent Roger Hardy in the original run of “Twin Peaks,” and had a long-running working relationship with filmmaker John Frankenheimer – starring in his films “52 Pick-Up,” “Against the Wall,” “George Wallace” and “Reindeer Games”.
Other film credits include “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “The General’s Daughter,” “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka,” “Sugar Hill,” “Half Baked,” “Deep Cover,” “Hoodlum,” “The Brave,” “The Legend of 1900” and “Life.”
Williams, who was married for 17 years to The Matrix’s Oracle herself Gloria Foster, is survived by his sister, daughter and niece.
Source: Deadline
