Peggy Lipton was a groovy and sexy icon of the late hippie era, best known for her role as Julie Barnes, the reformed juvenile delinquent turned undercover cop, in the popular police drama Mod Squad. Born into a well-to-do upper middle-class family of Russian-Jewish ancestry, Lipton's upbringing was strict and lonely, and she suffered from a debilitating nervous stutter as a child.
Despite her introverted nature, Lipton began her career as a model, working for the Eileen Ford agency in New York, and later took drama classes with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof studio in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. She made her television debut at the age of 19, appearing in small guest spots on popular shows such as Bewitched, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and The Invaders.
In addition to her acting career, Lipton also had a brief but moderately successful singing career, releasing several singles that made it to the Billboard charts. However, her personal life was marked by unhappy or abusive romantic relationships and experimentation with drugs, including cocaine and peyote.
Lipton's breakthrough role came in 1968 with Mod Squad, which ran for five years and earned her four Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe Award in 1971. However, the intense scrutiny and attention from the press took a toll on her mental health, and she became increasingly withdrawn and insecure.
After a hiatus from acting, Lipton made her screen comeback in 1988 and went on to appear in a number of films and television shows, including Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects, Twin Peaks, and Alias. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and passed away on May 11, 2019, at the age of 72.
Lipton is survived by her two daughters, Rashida and Kidada, who are also actresses. Despite her struggles with mental health and addiction, Lipton's legacy as a pioneering actress and icon of the 1960s counterculture continues to be celebrated.
