Clarence Williams III
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.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 16.412 |
Birthday | 1939-08-21 |
Place of Birth | New York City, New York, USA |
Also Known As | Clarence Williams, |
2000
Reindeer Games
5.687/637
After assuming his dead cellmate's identity to get with his girlfriend, an ex-con finds himself the reluctant participant in a casino heist.
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Reindeer Games
1988
Perfect Victims
5.2/4
A psycho who has contracted AIDS blames women for his disease, and begins to stalk and kill beautiful girls.
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Perfect Victims
1997
Hoodlum
6.372/184
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 Harle...
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Hoodlum
1994
Against the Wall
6.1/76
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.
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Against the Wall
1995
Tales from the Hood
6.242/153
A strange mortician tells four horrific tales to three drug dealers that he traps in their local funeral parlor.
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Tales from the Hood
1997
The Love Bug
5.563/133
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....
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The Love Bug
1998
Half Baked
6.291/541
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 goin...
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Half Baked
1997
The Brave
6.041/185
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 whi...
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The Brave
2001
Mindstorm
3.667/6
A psychic's investigation into the disappearance of a Senator's daughter leads her to a dangerous cult and the truth about her mysterious past.
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Mindstorm
1984
Purple Rain
6.7/359
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....
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Purple Rain
1995
The Immortals
5.685/27
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 ch...
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The Immortals
1994
Sugar Hill
5.6/95
In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner brother to lead a straight life with his girlfrie...
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Sugar Hill
1986
52 Pick-Up
5.907/113
Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His life is turned upside down when three blackmailers...
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52 Pick-Up
2002
Happy Here and Now
4.5/11
When her sister suddenly vanishes, a young girl sets out to find her, desperately searching the internet for clues. Joining her is an ex-CIA agent, wh...
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Happy Here and Now
2005
Mystery Woman: Game Time
6.6/11
Samantha (Kellie Martin) awaits the arrival of a famous writer who will sign copies in her bookstore when, coincidentally, an old acquaintance comes w...
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Mystery Woman: Game Time
2006
Mystery Woman: Redemption
6.6/13
Samantha Kinsey is the owner of the Mystery Woman bookstore and an expert in criminology. This time she will have to solve the murder of a war veteran...
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Mystery Woman: Redemption
1991
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
6.056/9
H.D. Dalton is a champion rodeo rider whose career is ruined after being gored by a bull. He returns home to discover things have drastically changed...
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My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
2005
Mystery Woman: Vision of a Murder
5.2/26
Sam lands a job photographing a new spa in Southern California for their brochure and brings her best friend Cassie along to enjoy some pampering. Whe...
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Mystery Woman: Vision of a Murder
2013
The Butler
7.3/2821
A look at the life of Cecil Gaines, who served eight presidents as the White House's head butler from 1952 to 1986, and had a unique front-row seat as...
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The Butler
2007
Mystery Woman: In the Shadows
6.2/13
While searching for a KGB double agent who was about to be exposed by another Russian spy-turned-successful author, mystery bookstore owner Samantha K...
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Mystery Woman: In the Shadows
2005
Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend
7.2/9
She's an avid mystery lover and bookseller, for whom crime has been comfortably confined to the pages of her favorite novels-until a real-life murder...
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Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend
2005
Mystery Woman: Sing Me a Murder
5.4/14
Murder is something to sing about when Mystery Woman Samantha Kinsey-an expert in pulp fiction, and increasingly proficient when it comes to real-life...
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Mystery Woman: Sing Me a Murder
2006
Mystery Woman: Oh Baby
6.8/16
A couple accused of a murder go on the run, leaving their baby in the care of bookshop owner & amateur sleuth Samantha Kinsey. Can Samantha look a...
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Mystery Woman: Oh Baby
1993
Father & Son: Dangerous Relations
6/4
An estranged father and son are paroled from the same maximum-security prison with one unusual condition, they must become roommates. Their severed bo...
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Father & Son: Dangerous Relations
2001
Blue Hill Avenue
7/27
A child of a middle class home with solid moral values is lured into a world of crime and corruption.
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Blue Hill Avenue
2006
Mystery Woman: At First Sight
6.3/13
After dating hot doctor Ben, cued by Cassie, mystery woman sets out to discover in a tiny town her birth mother trough Victor Short, the diner-managin...
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Mystery Woman: At First Sight
1987
The Last Innocent Man
5.1/10
A retired criminal lawyer is persuaded to take on one more case and becomes involved with his client's wife.
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The Last Innocent Man
1993
Deadfall
4/67
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 brothe...
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Deadfall
1963
The Cool World
5.4/17
A fifteen-year-old boy wants to buy a gun from an adult racketeer named Priest, in order to become president of the gang to which he belongs, and to r...
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The Cool World
1998
The Legend of 1900
8.266/2218
The story of a virtuoso piano player who lives his entire life aboard an ocean liner. Born and raised on the ship, 1900 (Tim Roth) learned about the o...
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The Legend of 1900
1992
Deep Cover
6.699/204
Black police officer Russell Stevens applies for a special anti-drug squad which targets the highest boss of cocaine delivery to LA—the Colombian fore...
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Deep Cover
1999
The General's Daughter
6.388/889
When the body of Army Capt. Elisabeth Campbell is found on a Georgia military base, two investigators, Warrant Officers Paul Brenner and Sara Sunhill,...
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The General's Daughter
1998
Frogs for Snakes
2/1
A group of unemployed theater actors survive by working as illegal money collectors. The loan shark they are working for owns an Off-Broadway theater....
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Frogs for Snakes
2000
Ritual
5.5/4
A young man drops out of college to fix his family when he senses something is terribly wrong at home.
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Ritual
2007
American Gangster
7.585/5287
Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem dist...
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American Gangster
1988
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
6.4/178
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 crimel...
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I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
2005
Mystery Woman: Snapshot
6.6/14
Amateur sleuth Samantha Kinsey's latest case has her trying to figure out who killed her best friend Barbara after she was left out of her family's wi...
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Mystery Woman: Snapshot
1990
Maniac Cop 2
5.891/221
After being framed by corrupt superiors and brutally assaulted in prison, Officer Matt Cordell teams up with a vicious serial killer to track down tho...
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Maniac Cop 2
2009
The Way of War
3.7/51
Paramilitary operative David Wolfe stumbles upon an international conspiracy connecting presidential cabinet members to a Middle Eastern terrorist plo...
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The Way of War
1990
Nasty Boys, Part 2: Lone Justice
5/1
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Nasty Boys, Part 2: Lone Justice
2006
Mystery Woman: Wild West Mystery
6.2/11
When former TV star Clint Taylor brings his Wild West show into town, murder becomes the featured attraction for bookstore owner Samantha Kinsey. Sama...
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Mystery Woman: Wild West Mystery
2009
A Day in the Life
6.318/12
Onyx rapper Sticky Fingaz directs and stars in this hip-hop musical about a gangster who gets caught up in a bloody war between two feuding crime fami...
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A Day in the Life
1987
Tough Guys Don't Dance
4.646/41
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 wom...
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Tough Guys Don't Dance
1979
The Return of Mod Squad
5/1
Pete, Linc and Julie are called back to the force when a series of sniper attacks are made on their old boss. But the three soon discover that they th...
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The Return of Mod Squad
1995
Judgement
8/2
In Judgement County, Texas, a rookie cop gets the ultimate test when an APB for a child killer fits the general description of a man he stops for spee...
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Judgement
1998
Starstruck
6.5/2
An aspiring screenwriter in Los Angeles befriends a washed up, former teen idol and develops an unhealthy relationship with him.
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Starstruck
1997
Sprung
5.5/17
Two pairs of best friends - Montel & Clyde and Brandy & Adina meet at the party, where Clyde makes Adina think he is very rich and gets her in...
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Sprung
2007
Constellation
5.6/5
Constellation chronicles the lives and loves of an African-American family in the deep South as they are forced to come to terms with a tumultuous pas...
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Constellation
2000
Civility
2/1
Cade Russo must reluctantly return home to Civility, Arizona to attend his father's funeral, and more importantly to him, the reading of the will. Cad...
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Civility
2018
American Nightmares
5/31
Two voyeuristic nerds are hacking the devices of people as they themselves are hacked by the feed from story tellers Mister Malevolent and Mystic Woma...
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American Nightmares
1999
Life
6.7/756
Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for a crime they did not commit.
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Life
1996
The Road to Galveston
5/1
Jordan Roosevelt, at 65, found herself alone, destitute, and depressed. Up against the wall, she took heart from the suggestion of a friend, a blind w...
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The Road to Galveston
2001
Impostor
6.103/404
A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile ali...
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Impostor
2003
The X Team
3.8/3
Members of a secret op unit of the national security agency of the United States of America is called in when a kidnapping occurs during a helicopter...
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The X Team
1970
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
7/9
Constructed from a wealth of archival footage, the documentary follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1955 to 1968, in his rise from regional activi...
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King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
1997
George Wallace
6.7/15
George Wallace is a 1997 television film starring Gary Sinise as George Wallace, the former Governor of Alabama. It was directed by John Frankenheimer...
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George Wallace
2000
Ali: An American Hero
4.8/4
Ali: An American Hero is an American television movie which aired on August 31, 2000 on FOX. It chronicles portions of the career of heavyweight boxer...
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Ali: An American Hero
1984
The House of Dies Drear
0/0
A young black man and his family move into a home in rural Ohio and discover that during the Civil War it was used by a Dutch immigrant to smuggle run...
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The House of Dies Drear
1996
Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault
7.2/50
A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences. A reformed junkie returns from prison...
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Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault
1996
The Silencers
4.3/15
U.S. Senator is assassinated by Men in Black, mysterious organization which suppresses all knowledge about UFOs. Agent Rafferty from the U.S. Secret...
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