Clarence Williams III
Clarence Williams III (August 21, 1939 – June 4, 2021) was an American actor. Williams was the son of a professional musician, Clarence "Clay" Williams Jr., and grandson of jazz and blues composer/pianist Clarence Williams and his singer-actress wife, Eva Taylor. Raised by his paternal grandmother, he became interested in acting after accidentally walking onto a stage at a theater below a Harlem YMCA.
Williams began pursuing an acting career after spending two years as a U.S. Army paratrooper in C Company, 506th Infantry, of the 101st Airborne Division. He first appeared on Broadway in The Long Dream (1960). Continuing his work on stage, he appeared in Walk in Darkness (1963), Sarah and the Sax (1964), Doubletalk (1964), and King John. His breakout theatrical role was in William Hanley's Slow Dance on the Killing Ground, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. The New York Times drama critic Howard Taubman wrote of his performance, "Mr. Williams glides like a dancer, giving his long, fraudulently airy speeches the inner rhythms of fear and showing the nakedness of terror when he ceases to pretend." He also served as artist-in-residence at Brandeis University in 1966.
Williams' breakout television role was as undercover cop Linc Hayes on the popular ABC counterculture police television series The Mod Squad (1968), along with fellow relative unknowns Michael Cole and Peggy Lipton. After the series ended in 1973, he worked in a variety of genres on stage and screen, from comedy (I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Half-Baked) to sci-fi (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and drama (Purple Rain).
Spanning over forty years, his career included the role of Prince's tormented father, who was also a musician, in Purple Rain (1984), A guest appearance in Miami Vice (1985), a recurring role in the surreal TV series Twin Peaks (1990), a good cop in Deep Cover (1992), a rioter in the mini-series Against the Wall (1994), and Wesley Snipes' chemically dependent father in Sugar Hill (1993). His other roles on television include Hill Street Blues, the Canadian cult classic The Littlest Hobo, Miami Vice, The Highwayman, Burn Notice, Everybody Hates Chris, Justified, Cold Case, and Law & Order. He can be seen in films such as 52 Pick-Up, Life, The Cool World, Deep Cover, Tales from the Hood, Half-Baked, King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, Hoodlum, Frogs for Snakes, Starstruck, The General's Daughter, Reindeer Games, Impostor, and as the early jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton in The Legend of 1900. He also played a supporting role as George Wallace's fictional African-American butler and caretaker in the 1997 TNT film George Wallace.
From 2003 to 2007, Williams had a recurring role as Philby Cross in the Mystery Woman film series on the Hallmark Channel. He appeared in all but the first of the eleven films alongside Kellie Martin (J.E. Freeman played Philby in the Mystery Woman first film). In the seventh (Mystery Woman: At First Sight) film, he reunited with his Mod Squad co-star Michael Cole. He played Bumpy Johnson in the film American Gangster. From 2005 to 2007 Williams had another recurring role as the voice of Councilor Andam on the Disney animated series American Dragon: Jake Long.
Williams died in Los Angeles, on June 4, 2021, at the age of 81, from colon cancer. He is buried in St Charles Cemetery in East Farmingdale, New York.
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Movies (65)
American Nightmares
2018 · Roscoe
El Mayordomo de la Casa Blanca
2013 · Maynard
A Day in the Life
2009 · Sam
The Way of War
2009 · Mac
Gángster Americano
2007 · Bumpy Johnson (uncredited)
Constellation
2007 · Forest Boxer
Mystery Woman: In the Shadows
2007 · Philby
The Blue Hour
2007 · Ridley
Mystery Woman: Redemption
2006 · Philby
Mystery Woman: Oh Baby
2006 · Philby
Mystery Woman: Wild West Mystery
2006 · Philby
Mystery Woman: At First Sight
2006 · Philby
Mystery Woman: Game Time
2005 · Philby
Mystery Woman: Vision of a Murder
2005 · Philby
Mystery Woman: Sing Me a Murder
2005 · Philby
Mystery Woman: Snapshot
2005 · Philby
Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend
2005 · Philby
Blue Hill Avenue
2003 · Benny
ABC's 50th Anniversary Celebration
2003 · Self
The Extreme Team
2003 · Zachary
Happy Here and Now
2002 · Bill
El Impostor
2001 · Secretary of Defense (uncredited)
Mindstorm
2001 · Walter Golden
Civility
2000 · Glitterman
Ali: An American Hero
2000 · Marcellus Clay
Ritual
2000 · Leron Becker
Doble traición
2000 · Merlin
La hija del general
1999 · Colonel George Fowler
Last Rites
1999 · Warden George Pierce
Condenados a fugarse
1999 · Winston Hancock
The Legend of 1900
1998 · Jelly Roll Morton
Frogs for Snakes
1998 · Huck Hanley
Starstruck
1998 · Jerry Wallace
Medio Drogado
1998 · Samson Simpson
Cupido motorizado
1997 · Chuck
El gángster
1997 · Bub Hewlett
George Wallace
1997 · Archie
The Brave
1997 · Father Stratton
Sprung
1997 · Grand Daddy
Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault
1996 · Coach Pratt
The Silencers
1996 · General Greenboro
Encino Woman
1996 · Javier
The Road to Galveston
1996 · Christopher, the Caretaker
Judgement
1995 · Bryant
The Immortals
1995 · Benny
Historias del barrio negro
1995 · Mr. Simms (segment "Welcome to My Mortuary")
Contra La Pared
1994 · Chaka
Sugar Hill
1994 · Arthur Romello "A.R." Skuggs
Deadfall
1993 · Dean
Father & Son: Dangerous Relations
1993 · Raymond
Deep Cover
1992 · Taft
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
1991 · Deputy Sheriff Virgil
Maniac Cop 2
1990 · Blum
Nasty Boys, Part 2: Lone Justice
1990
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
1988 · Kalinga
Perfect Victims
1988 · Lt. Kevin White
Tough Guys Don't Dance
1987 · Bolo
The Last Innocent Man
1987 · D.J. Johnson
52 Pick-Up
1986 · Bobby Shy
Purple Rain
1984 · Father
The House of Dies Drear
1984 · Mayhew Skinner
The Hero Who Couldn't Read
1984 · Mr. Simpson
The Return of Mod Squad
1979 · Lincoln Hayes
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
1970 · Self (archive footage)
The Cool World
1964 · Blood
TV shows (30)
Empire
2015 · Huey Jarvis
Justified: La ley de Raylan
2010 · Jones
Operación Miami
2007 · Jean Pierre's Father
Todos Odian a Chris
2005 · Tate
Jake Long: El Dragón occidental
2005
Miracles
2003 · Dr. Bauer
Fastlane
2002 · Mr. Hayes
La leyenda de Tarzán
2001 · (voice)
Judging Amy
1999 · Joe McKenzie
George Wallace
1997 · Archie
Millennium
1996 · Patient Zero
Profiler
1996 · Carl Adler
New York Undercover
1994 · Donald Brooks
Walker, Comisario de Texas
1993 · Deputy Commissioner Luther Dobbs
Viaje a las estrellas: Espacio Profundo Nueve
1993 · Omet'iklan
Shades of L.A.
1990
Law & Order
1990 · Lateef Miller
Twin Peaks
1990 · FBI Agent Roger Hardy
Nasty Boys
1990 · John Culver
Tales from the Crypt
1989 · Grady
Jake and the Fatman
1987 · Benjamin Tatsa
The Cosby Show
1984 · Mr. Thornehill
Miami Vice
1984 · Maximilian 'Legba' Ildefonse
T. J. Hooker
1982 · Phil Decker, Martin, Walker Redding
Hill Street Blues
1981 · Lester Menley
The Littlest Hobo
1979 · David
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
1973 · John Cambridge
The Mod Squad
1968 · Linc Hayes
The Danny Thomas Hour
1967
Tarzan
1966