ClarenceWilliams the 3rd
An incredible Black actor who got no credit for his great work in film & television
Yo! I’m back grasshoppers writing more flames for your brain! Now to all my blog divas, blog homies and I know the only people that really miss me are my megalomaniacs who hold me down no matter what. I know I have been gone for a little bit working on my new book and movie I’m making. So wrapped up with my work one of my acting heroes passed away and my brother Chilly had to pull my coat to his death. I have been writing my blog since 2018 but right now I think this is one of my most important blogs to date on Clarence Williams the 3rd. I was at my mother’s house for her birthday and I and my brother Chilly were talking about all kinds of shit when he told me that Clarence Williams the 3rd passed away, I was floored.
I wrote in my previous blogs how my mother and her girlfriend Miss Pat used to go off when the Mod Squad 1968–1973 used to come on TV. I can’t lie I had the same excitement for the show because I loved the character, Linc Hayes. I was also too young to understand just how deep it was to have a real brother, a Black man on TV, and how rare that was at the time.
Clarence Williams the 3rd started his acting from the theater. His father Clarence Clay Williams a professional jazz musician and composer-pianist his mother Eva Taylor singer-actress. Clarence Williams the 3rd raised by his grandmother he got interested in acting going to the Harlem YMCA. Clarence’s first play was the Long Dream, Walk in Darkness 1963, Sarah and the Sax, Doubletalk 1964, and King John. His Breakout role was in Slow Dance on the killing ground where he received a Tony Award nomination. Then his breakout role on television was as Linc Hayes on the ABC TV cop drama show the Mod Squad. We loved it and it’s really off the hook. You need to check it out all you young people are really lucky to look it up on YouTube & Hulu. He also was in I’m going to get you sucker, Half Baked, Star Trek’s Deep Space Nine. How about his unforgettable role as Prince’s father in Purple Rain (1984).
To me this was a powerful portrayal in Black film. Then his work in so many cult classics he really put his thing down Twin Peaks, Deep Cover (1992), Against the Wall (1994) I love this prison movie he did for cable and I still yell out his best lines hot soup motherfucker! Hot soup! Give me prom night over there. If you did not see this movie, you need to go look it up right now and check it the fuck out! Littlest Hobo, Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues, Law & Order, 52-Pick up, Burn Notice, Highwayman, Montgomery to Memphis.
General’s Daughter, Starstruck, Reindeer Games, Impostor, Hoodlum. What about his incredible performance as the devil in Tales from the Hood. And another crazy ass line Yeah let’s get to the shit! Now, what about Sugar Hill in this movie all the young people know him as Romello’s father Author aka Romeo. This heartbreaking role shows his range and deep skill of acting. And his great coming- of- age gangster tail role as a Black Don of the neighborhood Benny in Blue Hill Avenue. This is another movie I just loved and how he played it in the movie magic fire. To me, both of these movies should have led him to bigger and better roles in Hollywood. But as you should know Black actors no matter who they are always having to prove themselves time and time again. Ask the great Clifton Powell and Laurence Fishburne. I have a blog called my love-hate relationship with Hollywood. Clarence Williams the 3rd always put his heart and soul into the movie no matter how big or small the role was. People call that old-school television nowadays. I call it working on your craft and respecting the game as a true professional.
He played the legendary jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton going back to his roots in theater and put his thing down again. Always working with Clarence Williams, the 3rd 2003–2007 he had a recurring role as Philby Cross in The Mystery Woman movie series on the Hallmark Channel. He also played a small but powerful role as Bumpy Johnson in American Gangster with one of the greatest actors of all times Denzel Washington.
2005–2007 he also had a recurring role as the voice of Councilor Adam on the Disney series American Dragon Lake Long. Clarence Williams the 3rd played in countless TV shows and plays. He showed the world his tremendous talent in movies and theater. Sadly, he passed away on June 4th, 2021, of colon cancer at 81 years old.
Clarence Williams the 3rd will be surely missed by the rest of the world, but he was one of my acting heroes. He was a one-of-a-kind actor with a wide range. He could play a good guy a bad guy or whatever once he got the role, he owned it and took you there with his skills. He could make you laugh, and he could make you cry and the main thing he could do is make you believe. He is the person that he is playing without a doubt and leaves a lifelong lasting impression on you forever as he did on me.
Yo! It’s your boy Dartanya A. Williams Sr aka Deeluciano the Don and I’m still dropping bombs as they did in Vietnam. If you like what I just dropped on your dome, hit me up on all the social media do-dads. I’m on Twitter @ Dartanyasr I’m on Instagram Dartanyasr. And my Facebook author's page Dartanya A. Williams Sr. The new street banger I’m dropping soon is called the Notorious L.E.X. And I’m also working on a movie I hope to be shooting soon as well with these super-hot scrips I just wrote. I’ll also be doing some more podcasts called the Wassi on my website Dartanyaawilliamssr.com. Please remember grasshoppers never let anyone no matter who they are: your mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, or someone posing as your friend or road dawg kill your dreams!
