After finishing dinner last night, I retired to my bedroom to get caught up on happenings of the day via Twitter. While scrolling through my timeline, my heart sank upon seeing a tweet from the Los Angeles Times Movie News – “Actress Peggy Lipton, star of ‘The Mod Squad’ and ‘Twin Peaks,’ dies at 72.” For the past 26 years, I’ve watched Peggy play Norma Jennings on Twin Peaks. While I never met her, her warm and inviting on screen presence made me feel like I had spent years ordering damn, fine coffee and two slices of cherry pie from her. So here is my love letter to Norma Jennings, who Peggy played so incredibly well and embodied what her daughters said in a statement about her passing, “Peggy was and will always be our beacon of light, both in this world and beyond … She will always be a part of us.”
Lipton was born on Aug. 30, 1946 in New York. She began her career as a model at age 15 and found her way into television by age 19. One of the most notable roles she played before Twin Peaks was Julie Barnes in The Mod Squad. She co-starred along with Clarance Williams III (who later played Agent Roger Hardy in Season 2 of Twin Peaks) and Michael Cole. Lipton received four Emmy nominations for her role, and a 1971 Golden Globe award for best actress in a TV drama. She even had a brief singing career as seen in this video of her cover of “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”
Lipton married Quincy Jones and had two daughters, Kidada and Rashida. The couple were divorced in 1989, and she returned to the television screen as Norma in Twin Peaks.
The closet I got to meeting here was a brief Twitter exchange on April 16, 2017 between Peggy, fellow Bookhouse Boy Ross Dudle (who runs the outstanding Twin Peaks Soundtrack Design website), and me.
I had shared a tweet about the onscreen chemistry between Everett McGill and Peggy, remarking that my all time favorite scene was “Smash Up” from The Missing Pieces from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
Seriously, that scene is breathtaking. It made the extremely long wait to see the deleted scene from my favorite David Lynch film so worth it (I’ve watched is so many times since the set was released in 2014).
Much to my surprise, Peggy replied to my tweet saying she loved filming the scene on a cold night at 2:00 a.m. (most likely in Washington state).
Ross chimed in as well as we both adore that scene. Peggy responded again, “thank you Was so happy to see it in the blueray [sic] versionDavid L screened it in LA and told me before I sat down that it was really good.”
With all that said, I wanted to share some of my favorite images of Norma Jennings from Twin Peaks. As you will see below, Peggy’s smile lit up a room. Her emotional range as an actress is impressive – I truly believed that she was head over heels for Big Ed Hurley (just look at the way she stares at him – find you someone like that!!). And she was able to do it all again 25 years later.
I will missed you Peggy and will always have a second helping of cherry pie in your honor.
Peggy’s daughters, Kidada and Rashida, asked the following:
“In lieu of flowers or gifts, you can make a donation to Seasons Hospice – https://seasonsfoundation.org/donate/ – the wonderful team who took such great care of our mom. Your donation will be in support all of their services including Camp Kangaroo, a bereveament camp for young children, and their Foundation, which helps grieving families in need by helping to pay for groceries, funeral arrangements, bills, etc.”
