Clarence Williams III

Silence as an Acting Weapon

Clarence Williams III was born in New York City on August 21, 1939, surrounded by jazz scores. His grandfather was a key composer in the history of the genre, and his father was a professional musician who taught him the value of discipline. But young Clarence preferred the Broadway stage to the trumpets.

In 1965 he earned a Tony Award nomination for his work in Slow Dance on the Killing Ground. That performance caught the attention of Hollywood producers searching for fresh faces for a television industry that was starting to sweat under social tensions. And so he ended up on a plane to Los Angeles.

His physical presence was his best dialogue.

In 1968, ABC premiered The Mod Squad and the world discovered Linc Hayes. Williams III played a young rebel who agreed to work for the police in exchange for staying out of prison. The show ran for five seasons and changed the rules of racial representation in prime time on American television.

Despite his fame, he did not let himself be seduced by the easy spotlight of the era. He wore his Afro as a political statement and kept a professional distance that many mistook for arrogance. But he was simply focused on his craft.

The Return of the Nineties

After the series ended in 1973, the actor decided to step back from leading roles for a while. He turned to theater and brief film appearances that let him keep up his lifestyle without the pressure of the covers. In 1984 he played Prince's father in Purple Rain, delivering a raw and violent performance.

And the risk paid off.

During the 1990s his career enjoyed a revival thanks to directors who had grown up watching him on television. In 1995 he joined Tales from the Hood, playing an unsettling gravedigger who served as the thread linking the horror anthology. It was a role that let him explore a theatrical register few had seen from him.

In 1997 he worked under John Hood on Hoodlum, and a year later he appeared in Half Baked. His ability to move from crime drama to stoner comedy without losing his professional dignity was remarkable. He shot his scenes in few takes and rarely asked for retakes if the director was satisfied.

The Years of Sobriety on Stage

Williams III never sought the nostalgia of reunions or empty tributes. In 2003 he joined the cast of the TV movie series Mystery Woman, where he played Philby across several installments. It was comfortable work that allowed him to pick other, riskier projects in independent film.

His last credited appearance on the big screen was in 2013 in The Butler. In this project he played Maynard, a small role but one full of the composure that had defined his career since the 1960s.

He kept his private life under strict control (he divorced actress Gloria Foster in 1984 after almost two decades of marriage). He did not attend industry parties and preferred the company of his books or of the musicians who still remembered his grandfather.

Clarence Williams III died at his home in Los Angeles on June 4, 2021. The cause of death was colon cancer, which he had kept out of public view until the end. He was 81 years old at the time of his death.