R.I.P.

Actor Clarence Williams III of ‘The Mod Squad’ and ‘Purple Rain’ Dies at 81

Williams’ management confirmed the New York City native’s passing from colon cancer.

Actor Clarence Williams III passed away of complications from colon cancer on Friday, his management announced. Williams, best known for his role as detective Linc Hayes in the ’60s countercultural cop drama The Mod Squad and as Prince’s father in Purple Rain, was 81. Born in 1939 in Harlem to a family of musicians, he got his start as a stage actor after stumbling into a rehearsal for the play Dark of the Moon at the Harlem YMCA. After a short stint in the Army as a paratrooper, he embarked on a prolific career as both a stage and a screen actor, appearing in a wide variety of roles, from an FBI agent in Twin Peaks to an alien in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.