MONDAY MEMORIAL TVXOHOF TRIBUTE - NORMA JENNINGS

From Variety:
Peggy Lipton, actress and singer known for her roles in “The Mod Squad” and “Twin Peaks,” and the mother of Rashida Jones, has died at 72 of cancer.

Her daughters Rashida and Kidada Jones announced her death to the Los Angeles Times. She had previously been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004.

Lipton won a Golden Globe and was Emmy-nominated four times for her role as flower child Julie Barnes in “The Mod Squad,” in which she starred from 1968 to 1973. She became a fashion icon for her hippie outfits on the show, which featured three hip undercover cops, “One black, one white, one blonde,” as the marketing campaign described. Clarence Williams III and Michael Cole were her fellow bell bottom-wearing undercover officers in one of the first shows to feature a multiracial cast and one of the first to depict the growing counter-culture movement.

After a long break to raise her daughters, she returned to acting on David Lynch’s original “Twin Peaks” series, on which she played Norma Jennings, the owner of the Double R Diner. She reprised her role in the recent revival of the series.  

Kyle MacLachlan wrote a very moving tribute to his former co-star which made me, for one, envious that I never got the chance to meet her.

Peggy Lipton’s performance as Julie Barnes on The Mod Squad made a huge impact on my whole generation. The show was decidedly not meant for our parents, and Peggy, who died on May 11 at 72, was a revelation. She represented a type of person not seen on television before, the quintessential example of a new kind of woman, young and hip, with a resilience that complemented a truly gentle spirit. 

 Later, she played a more personal, yet equally influential, role in my life, when we worked together on Twin Peaks. Peggy brought mystery and strength in equal measure to the character of Norma, who ran the Double R Diner. She radiated a sense of purpose, and her performance on the show in many ways mirrored Peggy the unique individual. She was always gracious and ever thoughtful, and moved to her own rhythm. She was wise and seemed all-knowing, and I instinctively felt that her world was full and complete—and far more fascinating than she would ever reveal to the rest of us.

When she poured you a coffee at the counter at the Double R, her smile and calming voice made everything feel all right with the world. And she made one hell of a cherry pie.
- Kyle MacLachlan

About the only way Toobworld Central can honor the memory of favorite actors is to take one of their characters – or perhaps the actual person – and finding a way to induct them into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame. 

I really wanted to get Julie Barnes in the Hall, eventually Pete and Linc of the Mod Squad as well.  But besides their TV series, they only had a reunion movie and no crossovers. 

However, Norma Jennings fits the bill, thanks to two theatrically released movies which have been absorbed into the Television Universe as part of the same franchise for ‘Twin Peaks’.

‘Twin Peaks’
1989-1991
30 episodes

"Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me"
1992 

"Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces" 
2014

'Twin Peaks'
2017
5 episodes

Here are the basic facts:

NORMA JENNINGS

BORN
September 30, 1950
RESIDENCE
Twin Peaks, Washington, United States
OCCUPATION
Owner of the Double R Diner
FAMILY
• Marty Lindstrom (father)
• Ilsa Lindstrom (mother)
• Vivian Smythe (step-mother)
• Annie Blackburn (half-sister)
• Hank Jennings (ex-husband)
• Ed Hurley (husband)

Norma Jennings (née Lindstrom) owned the Double R Diner, and was the organizer of Meals on Wheels, formerly with Laura Palmer.

Norma was the high school sweetheart of Ed Hurley, but in 1969 - the spring after graduation - she cheated on him with Hank Jennings one weekend, so he decided to marry Nadine Butler while in a partially inebriated state. Norma quickly married Hank in April, and they honeymooned in Hollywood, where they got tickets to 'The Tonight Show'. Also that month, she began working at the Double R Diner.

She graduated from Twin Peaks Community College, earning a degree in Home Economics.

Also in 1969, Norma won the first annual Miss Twin Peaks Contest.

In August of 1987, Norma began a Meals on Wheels service at the Double R Diner with the help of high school student Laura Palmer. In September of that year, Hank was convicted for vehicular manslaughter, so she and Ed began an affair.

On the morning of February 24, Laura was later found murdered, deeply affecting the town.

Later at the diner, Norma served a cherry pie to FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, whom she was introduced to by Sheriff Harry S. Truman as having taken over the investigation into Laura's death. Cooper asked her about Laura's involvement with the Meals on Wheels program and then asked her for two more pieces of pie.

Information is collected from the ‘Twin Peaks’ wiki.

Welcome to the Hall, Ms. Jennings.  You’ll find Special Agent Albert Rosenfeld is already a member of the TVXOHOF.  And as Prime-Time marches on, I’m sure I’ll be adding to your little group of members.

BCnU!