Clarence Williams III

Acting

Clarence Williams III

Born 1939-08-21 · New York City, New York, USA

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.

Acting credits

American Gangster poster
7.6

Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.

American Gangster

2007

Life poster
6.7

Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for a crime they did not commit.

Life

1999

The General's Daughter poster
6.4

When the body of Army Capt. Elisabeth Campbell is found on a Georgia military base, two investigators, Warrant Officers Paul Brenner and Sara Sunhill, are ordered to solve her murder. What they uncover is anything but clear-cut. Unseemly details emerge about Campbell's life, leading to allegations of a possible military coverup of her death and the involvement of her father, Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell.

The General's Daughter

1999

The Legend of 1900 poster
8.2

Musician Max Tooney goes to sell his prized Conn trumpet to a music shop, where he plays the instrument one last time. The shopkeeper recognises the song as one on a record matrix he found and asks who the piece is by. Tooney tells the story of an infant found abandoned in the first class dining room of the four-stacker ocean-liner SS Virginian on 1 January 1900. Danny Boodman, a coal-man from the boiler room, names the boy Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900, after himself, the fruit crate the boy was found in, and the year, and raises him as his own.

The Legend of 1900

1998

Hoodlum poster
6.5

In 1934, the second most lucrative business in New York City was running 'the numbers'. When Madam Queen—the powerful woman who runs the scam in Harlem—is arrested, Ellsworth 'Bumpy' Johnson takes over the business and must resist an invasion from a merciless mobster.

Hoodlum

1997

Impostor poster
6.1

A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.

Impostor

2001

Half Baked poster
6.3

Three lovable party buds try to bail their friend out of jail. But just when the guys have mastered a plan, everything comes dangerously close to going up in smoke.

Half Baked

1998

Reindeer Games poster
5.7

After assuming his dead cellmate's identity to get with his girlfriend, an ex-con finds himself the reluctant participant in a casino heist.

Reindeer Games

2000

Deep Cover poster
6.8

Black police officer Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest boss of cocaine delivery to LA—the Colombian foreign minister's nephew. Russell works his way up from the bottom undercover, until he reaches the boss.

Deep Cover

1992

The Butler poster
7.3

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with alcoholism and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.

The Butler

2013

ABC's 50th Anniversary Celebration poster
8.0

A retrospective of the 50-year history of the American Broadcasting Company, showcasing clips from past shows and current programs.

ABC's 50th Anniversary Celebration

2003

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka poster
6.4

Jack Spade returns from the army in his old ghetto neighbourhood when his brother, June Bug, dies. Jack declares war on Mr. Big, powerful local crimelord. His army is led by John Slade, his childhood idol who used to fight bad guys in the 70s.

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka

1988

Tales from the Hood poster
6.3

A strange mortician tells four horrific tales to three drug dealers that he traps in a local funeral parlor.

Tales from the Hood

1995

Maniac Cop 2 poster
5.9

Undead cop Matt Cordell rises from the grave, and is after the criminals who murdered him in prison.

Maniac Cop 2

1990

Sugar Hill poster
5.6

In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner and brother to lead a straight life with his girlfriend.

Sugar Hill

1994

Purple Rain poster
6.7

A victim of his own anger, the Kid is a Minneapolis musician on the rise with his band, the Revolution, escaping a tumultuous home life through music. While trying to avoid making the same mistakes as his truculent father, the Kid navigates the club scene and a rocky relationship with a captivating singer, Apollonia. But another musician, Morris, looks to steal the Kid's spotlight -- and his girl.

Purple Rain

1984

The Brave poster
6.0

A down-on-his-luck American Indian recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as the victim of a snuff film, the resulting pay of which could greatly help his poverty stricken family.

The Brave

1997

The Love Bug poster
5.7

The inimitable VW Beetle is losing all his races and destined for the scrap heap until mechanic Hank takes him over and gives him a new lease of life. Soon, Herbie is winning again, to the fury of his previous owner, who builds a menacing black bug to challenge Herbie to the ultimate race.

The Love Bug

1997

52 Pick-Up poster
6.1

Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His life is turned upside down when three blackmailers confront him with a videotape of him with his young mistress and demand $100,000. Fearing that the story will hurt his wife's political campaign if he goes to the police, Harry pretends that he will pay the men, but does not follow through.

52 Pick-Up

1986

Encino Woman poster
4.7

After thawing, a young prehistoric woman, Lucy, gets herself taken care of by David, a young intern at a marketing firm. Working on a campaign ad for a cosmetics company, David becomes Mr. Bigshot when his protégé is chosen to be the model/spokeswoman for her animal personality.

Encino Woman

1996

Deadfall poster
4.1

After he accidentally kills his father Mike during a sting, Joe tries to carry out Mike's dying wish by recovering valuables that Mike's twin brother Lou stole from him years earlier. But Uncle Lou is also a confidence artist, and Joe is soon drawn into his increasingly dangerous schemes.

Deadfall

1993

Tough Guys Don't Dance poster
4.7

Tim Madden awakens one morning to discover a fresh tattoo on his arm, his car covered in blood, his girlfriend in bed with the town sheriff, and a woman's severed head in his weed stash. Sensing a setup and in desperate need to clear his name, he begins an investigation that soon begins to expose a web of corruption in the small coastal community of Provincetown.

Tough Guys Don't Dance

1987

Against the Wall poster
6.2

In 1971, a warden at Attica Penitentiary is caught up in a hostage crisis when inmates take over the prison to demand better living conditions.

Against the Wall

1994

The Immortals poster
5.6

An elaborate heist unites 8 strangers in a simultaneous assault on targets all over the city- and explodes in a hailstorm of gunfire and high-speed chases in this powerful action-thriller. Recruited by a Mafia nightclub owner (Eric Roberts), 4 teams launch a brutal cross-town attack to retrieve suitcases full of cash. But as the violence escalates, the team members discover just who their real target has been all along - and the shocking truth they have in common.

The Immortals

1995