RIP Clarence Williams III: Underrated character actor gone too soon

On June 4 we lost another actor legend -- Clarence Williams III -- who will probably always be best known for his breakthrough groundbreaking role in the hit '60s and '70s crime drama The Mod Squad. Ironically enough, he and his co-star on that show, Peggy Lipton, would go on to appear in Twin Peaks in totally different roles -- but I digress.

Williams III will be rightly remembered for his TV work but he did some impressive work on the big screen too, and while he never became a bonafide movie star, he always had great presence whenever he showed up. 

Frankly, I should have included him in my 'shoulda been a bigger star' post from a few weeks back.

Here are a few choices roles of his worth checking out:

Purple Rain (1984) - It could have been a nothing, one-note part but Williams III imbued his role as Prince's abusive father with so much power in a few short, haunting scenes. My favorite is a quiet, tense moment when he coldly tells his son to never have children. He elevates Prince's acting and the movie, too. He's unforgettable.

52 Pick-Up (1986) - A little known and scene thriller gem from director John Frankenheimer. Williams III plays a particularly terrifying villain tormenting Roy Scheider and his wife (played by Ann Margaret) as part of an elaborate blackmail plot. This was the kind of scene-stealing performance that should have led to bigger roles for him but alas it didn't happen.

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) - It's just one scene but one of the movie's funniest -- he plays a would-be black radical activist who has sold out -- to some degree -- by marrying a white woman and raising two, albeit radical, cherubic white kids. For some reason the running gag about all their food being bean based always makes me laugh.

Deep Cover (1992) - Williams III plays the conscience of this down and dirty film about an undercover cop. One of a couple collaborations with director Bill Duke, he has great chemistry with leading man Laurence Fishburne, and the fate of his good guy cop character lends the movie its tragic pathos in the end.

Hoodlum (1997) - He teamed up with director Bill Duke and Fishburne again here in an underrated gangster epic about the real life numbers runner Bumpy Johnson, who helped topple the powerful Dutch Schultz and became the kingpin of Harlem. He plays a pivotal role as a man who betrays Schultz and he would play Bumpy himself in another based on a true story film American Gangster a decade later...