Clarence Williams III

Clarence Williams III

Personal Info

  • Name:

    Clarence Williams III

  • Birthday:

    1939-08-21

  • Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
  • Gender:

    Male

  • Know For:

    Acting

  • Popularity: 0
  • Also Known As

    Clarence Williams

Clarence Williams III

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.

Top Movie Cast

Reindeer Games
Reindeer Gamestrue- Merlin

2000-02-25

5.7
Perfect Victims
Perfect Victimstrue- Lt. Kevin White

1988-08-18

5.2
Hoodlum
Hoodlumtrue- Bub Hewlett

1997-08-27

6.4
Against the Wall
Against the Walltrue- Chaka

1994-03-26

6.1
Tales from the Hood
Tales from the Hoodtrue- Mr. Simms (segment "Welcome to My Mortuary")

1995-05-24

6.3
Half Baked
Half Bakedtrue- Samson Simpson

1998-01-16

6.3
The Love Bug
The Love Bugtrue- Chuck

1997-11-29

5.6
The Brave
The Bravetrue- Father Stratton

1997-07-30

6.0
Mindstorm
Mindstormtrue- Walter Golden

2001-02-28

3.6
Purple Rain
Purple Raintrue- Father

1984-07-27

6.7
The Immortals
The Immortalstrue- Benny

1995-10-05

5.7
Sugar Hill
Sugar Hilltrue- Arthur Romello "A.R." Skuggs

1994-02-25

5.6
52 Pick-Up
52 Pick-Uptrue- Bobby Shy

1986-11-07

6.0
Happy Here and Now
Happy Here and Nowtrue- Bill

2002-06-08

4.5
Mystery Woman: Game Time
Mystery Woman: Game Timetrue- Philby

2005-08-21

6.6
Mystery Woman: Redemption
Mystery Woman: Redemptiontrue- Philby

2006-11-06

6.6
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboystrue- Deputy Sheriff Virgil

1991-03-01

6.1
Mystery Woman: Vision of a Murder
Mystery Woman: Vision of a Murdertrue- Philby

2005-06-05

5.1
The Butler
The Butlertrue- Maynard

2013-08-16

7.3
Mystery Woman: In the Shadows
Mystery Woman: In the Shadowstrue- Philby

2007-01-13

6.1
Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend
Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekendtrue- Philby

2005-01-07

7.2
Mystery Woman: Sing Me a Murder
Mystery Woman: Sing Me a Murdertrue- Philby

2005-02-25

5.4
Mystery Woman: Oh Baby
Mystery Woman: Oh Babytrue- Philby

2006-08-18

6.8
Father & Son: Dangerous Relations
Father & Son: Dangerous Relationstrue- Raymond

1993-04-19

6.0
Blue Hill Avenue
Blue Hill Avenuetrue- Benny

2001-08-03

7.1
The Last Innocent Man
The Last Innocent Mantrue- D.J. Johnson

1987-04-19

5.1
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphistrue- Self (archive footage)

1970-03-24

7.3
Mystery Woman: At First Sight
Mystery Woman: At First Sighttrue- Philby

2006-01-21

6.3
Deadfall
Deadfalltrue- Dean

1993-10-08

4.0
The Cool World
The Cool Worldtrue- Blood

1963-09-02

5.4
The Legend of 1900
The Legend of 1900true- Jelly Roll Morton

1998-10-28

8.3
George Wallace
George Wallacetrue- Archie

1997-08-24

6.7
The General's Daughter
The General's Daughtertrue- Colonel George Fowler

1999-06-18

6.4
Deep Cover
Deep Covertrue- Taft

1992-04-15

6.8
Ali: An American Hero
Ali: An American Herotrue- Marcellus Clay

2000-08-01

4.8
The House of Dies Drear
The House of Dies Dreartrue- Mayhew Skinner

1984-06-01

0.0
Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault
Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigaulttrue- Coach Pratt

1996-11-23

7.3
The Silencers
The Silencerstrue- General Greenboro

1996-04-23

4.4
Frogs for Snakes
Frogs for Snakestrue- Huck Hanley

1998-08-14

2.0
Ritual
Ritualtrue- Leron Becker

2000-07-13

5.5
American Gangster
American Gangstertrue- Bumpy Johnson (uncredited)

2007-11-02

7.6
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
I'm Gonna Git You Suckatrue- Kalinga

1988-11-10

6.4
Mystery Woman: Snapshot
Mystery Woman: Snapshottrue- Philby

2005-01-28

6.6
The Way of War
The Way of Wartrue- Mac

2009-04-20

3.7
Maniac Cop 2
Maniac Cop 2true- Blum

1990-07-18

5.9
Nasty Boys, Part 2: Lone Justice
Nasty Boys, Part 2: Lone Justicetrue

1990-01-01

5.5
Mystery Woman: Wild West Mystery
Mystery Woman: Wild West Mysterytrue- Philby

2006-03-18

6.2
A Day in the Life
A Day in the Lifetrue- Sam

2009-07-07

5.9
Tough Guys Don't Dance
Tough Guys Don't Dancetrue- Bolo

1987-09-18

4.7
The Return of Mod Squad
The Return of Mod Squadtrue- Lincoln Hayes

1979-05-18

5.0
Judgement
Judgementtrue- Bryant

1995-12-31

8.0
Starstruck
Starstrucktrue- Jerry Wallace

1998-04-18

6.5
Constellation
Constellationtrue- Forest Boxer

2007-02-01

5.6
Sprung
Sprungtrue- Grand Daddy

1997-05-14

5.4
Civility
Civilitytrue- Glitterman

2000-04-01

2.5
American Nightmares
American Nightmarestrue- Roscoe

2018-10-11

5.0
Life
Lifetrue- Winston Hancock

1999-04-16

6.7
The Road to Galveston
The Road to Galvestontrue- Christopher, the Caretaker

1996-01-24

5.0
Impostor
Impostortrue- Secretary of Defense (uncredited)

2001-12-03

6.1
The Extreme Team
The Extreme Teamtrue- Zachary

2003-01-01

3.8
Encino Woman
Encino Womantrue- Javier

1996-04-20

4.0

Profile Images