Peggy Lipton (Actor)

Peggy Lipton. (Photo: Curt Gunther)

Despite over four decades in the industry, actress Peggy Lipton is best known for a role she played in 1968, that of undercover cop Julie Barnes in The Mod Squad (1968-1973). However, prior to life as Julie Barnes, Lipton had participated in The John Forsythe Show (1965-1966) and starred alongside Kurt Russell in Mosby's Marauders, a critically praised three-part tale from The Wonderful World of Disney series. After the finale of The Mod Squad (and the reunion in 1979's The Return of the Mod Squad), Lipton played supporting roles in Purple People Eater and Keenen Ivory Wayans' I'm Gonna Git You Sucka! (both 1988). Before long, another television role launched Lipton's name back into the mainstream -- David Lynch's surreal drama series Twin Peaks (1990-1991), which featured Lipton in the role of Norma Jennings.

Lipton reprised her Twin Peaks role in 1992, though, unlike The Return of the Mod Squad, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was a feature-film prequel to the television series. Lipton continued to make sporadic appearances in film and television throughout the '90s -- she had decided to focus most of her attention on raising a family rather than pursuing acting full-time -- and played a small, supporting role in Kevin Costner's ill-conceived film The Postman in 1997. In 2000, Lipton worked with Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Jason Leigh in director Tamra Davis' coming-of-age drama Skipped Parts, and went on to perform in Michael and Mark Polish's Jackpot in 2001. She also turned up on the popular spy series Alias in 2004 as the duplicitous mother of the similarly deceptive government agent Lauren Reed (Melissa George). Peggy Lipton was married to composer/producer Quincy Jones from 1974-1989, and the former couple have two daughters together. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide