Peggy Lipton, Norma Jennings of Twin Peaks, Has Died at Age 72

Peggy Lipton, the actress known for her indelible roles in The Mod Squad and Twin Peaks, has died from cancer at age 72, according to a statement issued by her daughters, actress Rashida and designer Kidada Jones, Saturday.

“We are heartbroken that our beloved mother passed away from cancer today,” the sisters, Lipton’s daughters from her 16-year marriage to producer Quincy Jones, said in their statement. (In 2004, Lipton reportedly underwent treatment for colon cancer.) “She made her journey peacefully with her daughters and nieces by her side. We feel so lucky for every moment we spent with her. We can’t put all of our feelings into words right now but we will say: Peggy was, and will always be our beacon of light, both in this world and beyond. She will always be a part of us.”

After emerging as a model as a teenager, at 18, Lipton secured a role on The Mod Squad, playing the hippie cop Julie Barnes. The show premiered in 1968; in 1971, the role earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series, Drama. (She was nominated for an additional four Emmy awards.) She met Quincy Jones in 1973, at the close of The Mod Squad, and took a hiatus from acting to start her family. After they separated in 1986 (she filed for divorce in 1989), Lipton returned to the screen in a series of small films before she caught the eye of one David Lynch, landing a role on Twin Peaks. She reprised her role as Norma Jennings in the recent Twin Peaks: The Return, her most recent project, according to her IMDb page.

Last year, with the birth of daughter Rashida Jones’s first child with Vampire Weekend musician Ezra Koenig, Lipton also became a grandmother. She described her grandson Isaiah as “the love of my life,” according to an Instagram post by InStyle editor Laura Brown.

In addition to Brown, Mädchen Amick, who played Norma’s diner employee and surrogate daughter Shelly Johnson on Twin Peaks, was among the first to post on social media in the wake of Lipton’s death. “I lost a sister today. She was a true angel on earth. Always the coolest in the room,” she wrote. “I hope to dance with you again in the stars one day.”