Spanning over forty years, his career includes the role of Prince's tormented father, who was also a musician, in "Purple Rain" (1984), 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 Dad in "Sugar Hill" (1993). Other TV roles include "Hill Street Blues", the Canadian cult classic "The Littlest Hobo", "Miami Vice", "The Highwayman", "Burn Notice", "Everybody Hates Chris", "Justified", "Law & Order". He can be seen in movies such as "52 Pick-Up", "Life", "The Cool World", "Deep Cover", "Tales from the Hood", "Half-Baked", "", "Hoodlum", "Frogs for Snakes", "Starstruck", "The General's Daughter", "Reindeer Games", "Impostor", and "The Legend of 1900". He also played a supporting role as George Wallace's fictional African-American butler and caretaker in the 1997 TNT movie "George Wallace".