On this Sunday afternoon, I am sad to report on the loss of another Twin Peaks actor who had a brief role two episodes from season two. Clarence Williams III, who played Special Agent Roger Hardy, passed due to colon cancer on June 4 at the age of 81. Here is my Love Letter to a tremendously talented actor from stage and screen.
LEARNING THE NEWS
I first learned of Clarence’s passing from a tweet shared by Variety on June 6, 2021 at 3:54 p.m. My heart sank knowing that another one of our beloved cast had passed. While his role was brief on the show, he left a lasting impression on me. His arrival into town changed the direction of the show post revealing Laura Palmer’s killer. Clarence was a powerhouse performer as you will see in a look back at his career.
I AM AN ACTOR
Williams was born in New York City on August 21, 1939. His father was a musician and his parents soon divorced when he was an infant. Clarence’s grandmother raised him in Harlem. He reminisced about his childhood with John Really for a 1970 “TV Guide” interview:
“We didn’t have fancy clothes, but we did have shoes … There was always stew or beans in a pot on the stove … I didn’t have to run around the streets and steal. My grandmother worked her tail off and the money that came into the house was her own.”
He loved going to the movies and was introduced to theater through YMCA productions. Later, he would spend two years as a paratrooper before honing his craft on the stage in New York.
He stared in Vinette Caroll’s 1957 stage production of “Dark of the Moon.” Later he stared opposite Geraldine Page in “The Great Outdoors” on Broadway. It was his 1965 performance in “Slow Dance on the Killing Ground” that earned him a Tony Award nomination and caught the eye of Bill Cosby.
THE MOD SQUAD
Aaron Spelling needed a black actor for his new late 1960s show, The Mod Squad. It was Cosby who recommended Williams for the role, and offered to reimburse Spelling for any travel expenses incurred getting Clarence from New York to Los Angeles (NBC covered the costs eventually).
Spelling was impressed with a test run performance in a Danny Thomas Hour role and hired him to play Lincoln “Linc” Hayes (Thomas also served as an Executive Producer for this show). Williams was joined by Michael Cole, Tighe Andrews and Peggy Lipton, the latter who played Norma Jennings on Twin Peaks. The series ran for five seasons on the ABC Television Network between September 24, 1968 and March 1, 1973.
In the 1970 “TV Guide” interview, Spelling gushed over how great of an actor Williams was on screen.
“He can explode like charged lightning,” says Spelling, a man who is not afraid of superlatives. “He’s not a black actor, not a white actor, not a colored actor; he’s an actor, the most professional I’ve worked with in my life. There are things Clarence does like nobody else. He’s so good.”
He played Prince’s father (Frances L) in Purple Rain (1984) and partnered extensively with John Frankenheimer between 1986-2000 staring in 52 Pick-Up, Against the Wall, television movie George Wallace and Reindeer Games.
Aside from films, he made numerous appearances on television shows throughout the 1980s and 90s. He even donned extensive makeup for his performance as who played Omet’iklan in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode titled “To the Death.”
In an interview with the Palm Beach Post about his work in Sugar Hill, Williams offered poignant insight about playing television roles.
“It’s kind of nice to be remembered … but people forget that there is plenty of challenging work for an actor outside of television. For one thing, there’s so much fine work being done in regional theaters throughout the country. For instance, some years ago I spent a year at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., as an artist-in-residence. It was a wonderful, very rewarding experience.”
He had a passion for performing and for inspiring youth just as he was inspired by shows at the YMCA. Even in 1970, long before his career expanded, he knew the impact he had on children:
“It’s kind of nice for kids to see a reflection of themselves. I enjoy being an image of something positive. I want the black kids, and the white kids too, to say wow, I enjoy him, I’d like to try that.”
In a time today when representation matters, Williams blazed trails in the 1960s. He paved the way for many talented black actors who grace the screen and stage. His final film performance was Bob in Sean Baker’s Snowbird (2016).
He is survived by his sister Sondra Pugh, daughter Jamey Phillips, niece Suyin Shaw, grandnephews Elliot Shaw and Ese Shaw and grandniece Azaria Verdin.
MOD SQUAD REUNION IN TWIN PEAKS
I haven’t found exactly how the idea of casting Clarence Williams III in Twin Peaks originated. Reuniting actors wasn’t a strange notion for the series, best illustrated by having West Side Story actors Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn play Ben Horne and Dr. Lawrence Jacoby respectively. But a Mod Squad reunion may not have been discussed until September or October 1990 after season two had started.
In a May 1990 interview for Florida Today, Peggy Lipton was asked about her former Mod Squad stars. At the time, she had not seen Clarence in several years.
Tricia Brock’s script for episode 2010, the first appearance of Williams’ Agent Roger Hardy, was drafted between September 27 – October 22, 1990.
It was written Barry Pullman who penned the infamous reunion of Peggy Lipton and Clarence Williams III for episode 2011. His script was written between October 11-23, 1990
There was even a blurb in The Miami Herald around that time that gave a nod to Lipton’s Twin Peaks role and Williams’ guest role in Gabriel’s Fire on November 1. No mention of the impending reunion among the pines.
ANNOUNCEMENT
A few weeks later, Gannett News Service first ran a story on November 21 that Williams and Lipton would reunite in a December 8 episode.
The Tennessean published a similar account on November 26, 1990. I’d love to know if any images or other details were shared at that press conference (which may have been held on November 19 or 20).
“Solid!”
Except the all-too-brief Mod Squad reunion wouldn’t happen until December 15, 1990 when Dewayne Dunham’s episode 2011 aired.
It must have been a big enough deal for ABC to have official publicity photos taken of Williams. He’s standing in front of a fireplace on the set of the Great Northern Hotel built in City Studios (now Occidental Studios) in Van Nuys, California.
With Laura Palmer’s murder now “solved,” I’m wondering if the show runners felt that advertising this Mod Squad reunion would be a way to bolster viewership and improve ratings. People would want to tune in to see the interaction between Lipton and Williams. I only wish it would have been longer.
APPEARENCES IN TWIN PEAKS
Williams character Agent Hardy arrives at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department in episode 2010 with Preston King (Gavan O’Herlihy, son of Dan O’Herlihy who played Andrew Packard) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Agent Hardy is from the Internal Affairs division of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. They are the agents who watch the agents.
Hardy and King will question Cooper’s actions rescuing Audrey Horne from One-Eyed Jacks.
Mountie King isn’t happy as the Mounties had been trying to bust Jean Renault for six months. Pay attention to Roger Hardy’s glasses.
Roger’s glasses change position on the table during their interrogation of Agent Cooper. Probably different takes were used during the editing process.
The scene concludes with Sheriff Truman being the bad ass that he is, but still offering them coffee.
EPISODE 2011
Showtime for Agent Cooper in episode 2011 as Agent Hardy and his Internal Affairs investigators question Cooper.
I love the exchange between Cooper and Hardy. Williams’ performance commands the scene.
The finish questioning Cooper and then it’s time for pie.
Hardy heads to the Double R Diner and is seen reading the “Twin Peaks Gazette,” a faux newspaper created for the show.
And then … it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for …
He looks up as Norma Jennings delivers a slice of cherry pie.
Smiling, Norma apologizes for it taking so long to get to him as they are short on help.
Agent Hardy doesn’t mind, smiles and digs in.
And that’s it … that was the reunion.
Williams’ character is behind Andy Brennan, Little Nicky and Dick Tremayne later in the scene.
His final time on screen is looking down at Andy after he went “funny boom boom.”
Thank you Clarence for sharing your talents with the world. You left a legacy and generations to come will remember your professionalism, dedication and talents.
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