'Mod Squad' Star Peggy Lipton, Mother of Rashida Jones, Dead at 72

Peggy Lipton, the stunning blonde actress best-known as flower child-turned-cop Julie Barnes on TV's "The Mod Squad" (1968-1973), died Saturday, People magazine reports.

She was 72.

Lipton had first battled colon cancer in 2004, and died from the disease 15 years later.

In a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times by her actress daughters Rashida and Kidada Jones from her 1974-1990 marriage to producer Quincy Jones, her family said, "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.”

Lipton was a popular model from age 15, going on to make her TV debut on an episode of "Bewitched" in 1965, and to appear on other series of the era, including "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" (1965), "The Virginian" (1966), and "The F.B.I." (1967).

The chic woman forever linked to TV's earliest embrace of counterculture issues said her "Mod Squad" fame overwhelmed her, but it also led to several hit singles, including a cover of Donovan's "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" (1968) that cracked the Top 40.

After "The Mod Squad" ended — she racked up four Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe win along the way — she reprised her role in a 1979 TV movie, "The Return of Mod Squad," and appeared sporadically on TV and in such films as "Purple People Eater" (1988), "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (1988), and "A Dog's Purpose" (2017). She played feminist icon Gloria Steinem in the TV movie "The '70s" (2000).

Her other most famous role was as Norma Jennings on "Twin Peaks" (1989-1991; 2017) and in the features "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" (1992) and "Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces" (2014).

One of Lipton's last performances was playing the mother of daughter Rashida Jones' character on two episodes of "Angie Tribeca" (2016-2017).