Clarence Williams III
Date of birth: 1939-08-21
Place of birth: New York City, New York, USA
Known for: Acting
Also known as: Clarence Williams
Biography
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.
Movie Credits
Reindeer Games
2000-02-25
After assuming his dead cellmate's identity to get with his girlfriend, an ex-con finds himself the
Perfect Victims
1988-08-18
A psycho who has contracted AIDS blames women for his disease, and begins to stalk and kill beautifu
Hoodlum
1997-08-27
In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Q
Against the Wall
1994-03-26
In 1971, a warden at Attica Penitentiary is caught up in a hostage crisis when inmates take over the
Tales from the Hood
1995-05-24
A strange mortician tells four horrific tales to three drug dealers that he traps in their local fun
Half Baked
1998-01-16
Three lovable party buds try to bail their friend out of jail. But just when the guys have mastered
The Love Bug
1997-11-29
The inimitable VW Beetle is losing all his races and destined for the scrap heap until mechanic Hank
The Brave
1997-07-30
A down-on-his-luck American Indian recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as th
Mindstorm
2001-02-28
A psychic's investigation into the disappearance of a Senator's daughter leads her to a dangerous cu
Purple Rain
1984-07-27
A victim of his own anger, the Kid is a Minneapolis musician on the rise with his band, the Revoluti
The Immortals
1995-10-05
An elaborate heist unites 8 strangers in a simultaneous assault on targets all over the city- and ex
Sugar Hill
1994-02-25
In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner
52 Pick-Up
1986-11-07
Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His
Happy Here and Now
2002-06-08
When her sister suddenly vanishes, a young girl sets out to find her, desperately searching the inte
Mystery Woman: Game Time
2005-08-21
Samantha (Kellie Martin) awaits the arrival of a famous writer who will sign copies in her bookstore
Mystery Woman: Redemption
2006-11-06
Samantha Kinsey is the owner of the Mystery Woman bookstore and an expert in criminology. This time
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
1991-03-01
H.D. Dalton is a champion rodeo rider whose career is ruined after being gored by a bull. He returns
Mystery Woman: Vision of a Murder
2005-06-05
Sam lands a job photographing a new spa in Southern California for their brochure and brings her bes
The Butler
2013-08-16
Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white f
Mystery Woman: In the Shadows
2007-01-13
While searching for a KGB double agent who was about to be exposed by another Russian spy-turned-suc
Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend
2005-01-07
She's an avid mystery lover and bookseller, for whom crime has been comfortably confined to the page
Mystery Woman: Sing Me a Murder
2005-02-25
Murder is something to sing about when Mystery Woman Samantha Kinsey-an expert in pulp fiction, and
Mystery Woman: Oh Baby
2006-08-18
A couple accused of a murder go on the run, leaving their baby in the care of bookshop owner & a
Father & Son: Dangerous Relations
1993-04-19
An estranged father and son are paroled from the same maximum-security prison with one unusual condi
Blue Hill Avenue
2003-09-19
A child of a middle class home with solid moral values is lured into a world of crime and corruption
The Last Innocent Man
1987-04-19
A retired criminal lawyer is persuaded to take on one more case and becomes involved with his client
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
1970-03-24
A presentation of key events in the life of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Beginning w
Mystery Woman: At First Sight
2006-01-21
After dating hot doctor Ben, cued by Cassie, mystery woman sets out to discover in a tiny town her b
Deadfall
1993-10-08
After he accidentally kills his father Mike during a sting, Joe tries to carry out Mike's dying wish
The Cool World
1963-09-02
A fifteen-year-old boy wants to buy a gun from an adult racketeer named Priest, in order to become p
The Legend of 1900
1998-10-28
The story of a virtuoso piano player who lives his entire life aboard an ocean liner. Born and raise
George Wallace
1997-08-24
George Wallace is a 1997 television film starring Gary Sinise as George Wallace, the former Governor
The General's Daughter
1999-06-18
When the body of Army Capt. Elisabeth Campbell is found on a Georgia military base, two investigator
Deep Cover
1992-04-15
Black police officer Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest
Ali: An American Hero
2000-08-01
Ali: An American Hero is an American television movie which aired on August 31, 2000 on FOX. It chro
The House of Dies Drear
1984-06-01
A young black man and his family move into a home in rural Ohio and discover that during the Civil W
Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault
1996-11-23
A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based
The Silencers
1996-04-23
U.S. Senator is assassinated by Men in Black, mysterious organization which suppresses all knowledge
Frogs for Snakes
1998-08-14
A group of unemployed theater actors survive by working as illegal money collectors. The loan shark
Ritual
2000-07-13
A young man drops out of college to fix his family when he senses something is terribly wrong at hom
American Gangster
2007-11-02
Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
1988-11-10
Jack Spade returns from the army in his old ghetto neighbourhood when his brother, June Bug, dies. J
Mystery Woman: Snapshot
2005-01-28
Amateur sleuth Samantha Kinsey's latest case has her trying to figure out who killed her best friend
The Way of War
2009-04-20
Paramilitary operative David Wolfe stumbles upon an international conspiracy connecting presidential
Maniac Cop 2
1990-07-18
Undead cop Matt Cordell rises from the grave, and is after the criminals who murdered him in prison.
Nasty Boys, Part 2: Lone Justice
1990-01-01
Mystery Woman: Wild West Mystery
2006-03-18
When former TV star Clint Taylor brings his Wild West show into town, murder becomes the featured at
A Day in the Life
2009-07-07
Onyx rapper Sticky Fingaz directs and stars in this hip-hop musical about a gangster who gets caught
Tough Guys Don't Dance
1987-09-18
Tim Madden awakens one morning to discover a fresh tattoo on his arm, his car covered in blood, his
The Return of Mod Squad
1979-05-18
Pete, Linc and Julie are called back to the force when a series of sniper attacks are made on their
Judgement
1995-12-31
In Judgement County, Texas, a rookie cop gets the ultimate test when an APB for a child killer fits
Starstruck
1998-04-18
An aspiring screenwriter in Los Angeles befriends a washed up, former teen idol and develops an unhe
Constellation
2007-02-01
Constellation chronicles the lives and loves of an African-American family in the deep South as they
Sprung
1997-05-14
Two pairs of best friends - Montel & Clyde and Brandy & Adina meet at the party, where Clyde
Civility
2000-10-08
Cade Russo must reluctantly return home to Civility, Arizona to attend his father's funeral, and mor
American Nightmares
2018-10-11
Two voyeuristic nerds are hacking the devices of people as they themselves are hacked by the feed fr
Life
1999-04-16
Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for a c
The Road to Galveston
1996-01-24
Jordan Roosevelt, at 65, found herself alone, destitute, and depressed. Up against the wall, she too
Impostor
2001-12-03
A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on sus
The Extreme Team
2003-01-01
A secret Black Ops rescue team made up of Gen X extreme sport athletes go to New Zealand to save a f
Encino Woman
1996-04-20
After thawing, a young prehistoric woman, Lucy, gets herself taken care of by David, a young intern
ABC's 50th Anniversary Celebration
2003-05-19
A retrospective of the 50-year history of the American Broadcasting Company, showcasing clips from p