Peggy Lipton

Peggy Lipton died of cancer aged 72 in May 2019. From 1968 until its cancellation five years later, she was one of the stars of The Mod Squad, a popular TV drama, produced by Aaron Spelling. In 1969, she had met the musician and producer Quincy Jones on a friend’s boat in the Bahamas. They started dating in 1971, then moved in together once Lipton had mastered cooking. Following their marriage in 1974, Lipton concentrated on raising their two daughters, putting her career on hold until the late 80s. Once the couple divorced in 1990, having separated four years earlier, she returned to acting, appearing as Norma Jennings, the wise waitress at the Double R Diner, in David Lynch’s surreal TV crime drama Twin Peaks. Lipton was born in New York City, to Harold Lipton, a corporate lawyer, and Rita (nee Benson), an artist, and raised in Lawrence, Long Island. Her father facilitated her earliest modelling jobs when she was a teenager, and her mother who persuaded her to take acting lessons; she attended the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan. She released several singles and a self-titled 1968 album, and was also one of the co-writers of Frank Sinatra’s 1984 song LA Is My Lady. She dabbled in hallucinogenics and dated Paul McCartney, Terence Stamp, Ryan O’Neal and a girdle-wearing Elvis Presley. She is survived by Rashida, and by her elder daughter, Kidada.