Clarence Gilyard obit

 

Clarence Gilyard, ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Matlock’ actor, dies at 66

He was not on the list.

Clarence Gilyard Jr., a popular supporting actor whose credits include the blockbuster films “Die Hard” and “Top Gun” and the hit television series “Matlock” and “Walker, Texas Ranger,” has died at age 66.

His death was announced this week by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he taught stage and screen acting. Additional details were not immediately available Tuesday.

“Professor Gilyard was a beacon of light and strength for everyone around him at UNLV,” the school’s film chair, Heather Addison, said in a statement. “Whenever we asked him how he was, he would cheerfully declare that he was ‘Blessed!’ But we are truly the ones who were blessed to be his colleagues and students for so many years.”

Gilyard was a Moses Lake, Washington, native. He had a prolific career as an actor, starting in the 1980s with appearances in “Diff’rent Strokes,” ”The Facts of Life” and other shows. He then appeared in two of the biggest movies of the decade: “Top Gun,” in which he played Sundown, a radar intercept officer, and “Die Hard,” when he was featured as a villainous computer maven whose one liners included “You didn’t bring me along for my charming personality.”

In the 1990s, he was on the side of law enforcement in “Matlock,” playing opposite Andy Griffith, and “Walker, Texas Ranger,” which starred Chuck Norris. His other credits include “The Karate Kid: Part II,” a stage production of “Driving Miss Daisy” and an appearance alongside “Die Hard” star Bruce Willis in a commercial for DieHard batteries.

In 1979, Gilyard moved to Los Angeles to become an actor. Among other work, a role in the play Bleacher Bums made him what one magazine called "the first black actor to play a cheerleader",[2] before he segued into television roles. As a character actor, Gilyard made guest appearances on TV shows such as Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, 227, Simon & Simon, and Riptide. In 1982–1983, Gilyard was cast in the final season of the NBC TV series CHiPs as Officer Benjamin Webster, opposite Erik Estrada. He co-starred with Jim Carrey in the 1984 NBC sitcom The Duck Factory. He appeared in a commercial for McDonald's in 1987.

Gilyard's movie debut in 1986 was as an F-14 Tomcat radar intercept officer, LT.(JG) Marcus "Sundown" Williams, in Top Gun. He was also a military man in the 1986 film The Karate Kid Part II. He appeared in the 1988 action film Die Hard as Theo, a criminal computer expert. He also appeared as Reverend Bruce Barnes in Left Behind: The Movie and its sequel, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force.

Gilyard played the role of Ben Matlock's private investigator, Conrad McMasters, on Matlock opposite Andy Griffith from 1989 to 1993. He replaced Kene Holliday, who was fired for his dependency on drugs and alcohol. Gilyard appeared in almost every Matlock episode starting in season 3 of the show. When the show moved from NBC to ABC for the series' seventh season, production moved from Los Angeles to Wilmington, North Carolina. Andy Griffith suggested to Gilyard that he move there, too, which he did, before departing to work on a pilot for another series at CBS the following year.

In 1993, he began another long-time co-starring role opposite Chuck Norris on Walker, Texas Ranger. Gilyard portrayed fellow Texas Ranger and best friend of Walker, James "Jimmy" Trivette. Near the end of the series, Norris' character married his longtime girlfriend, an assistant district attorney, while Gilyard's character was given a girlfriend. Gilyard had a cameo appearance in the 2005 television movie, Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire.

n 2012, after taking time off to teach, Gilyard began appearing onscreen again, mostly in independent projects. In 2014, he appeared in the religious film A Matter of Faith.

On January 17, 2016, Gilyard performed the role of Hoak Colburn onstage at the University of New Mexico's Popejoy Hall in the Neil Simon Festival's Driving Miss Daisy, opposite his former Walker, Texas Ranger co-star, Sheree J. Wilson.

In the 2018 edition of the football video game Madden NFL, Gilyard plays high school coach Devin Wade in the "Longshot" section of the game. Two years later, Gilyard reprised his role as criminal gang member Theo from Die Hard, alongside star Bruce Willis, in a commercial for Advance Auto Parts' DieHard brand of car batteries.

Gilyard was an associate professor in the College of Fine Arts – Department of Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, were he taught stage and screen acting. "Professor Gilyard was a beacon of light and strength for everyone around at UNLV".

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1986      Top Gun               Lieutenant Junior Grade Evan "Sundown" Gough              

The Karate Kid Part II      G.I. #1  

1987      Off the Mark      James B. White

1988      Die Hard               Theo     

2000      Left Behind: The Movie Bruce Barnes     

2002      Left Behind II: Tribulation Force

2012      Little Monsters Ben Foreman    

2013      From Above       Jeremiah Ward

2014      A Matter of Faith              Professor Portland          

2015      The Track             Psychiatrist        

2016      The Beast            Auguste Porter

The Sector           Reverend Raines             

2019      The Perfect Race              Coach Michaels                

TBA        The Driver           Lee Staples          Filming

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1981      Diff'rent Strokes               Frank Simpson / The Student      2 episodes

1982      Making the Grade            Unknown            Episode: Teach Me Tonight

1982–1983          CHiPs     Officer Benjamin Webster            20 episodes

1983      The Kid with the 200 I.Q.               Unknown            TV Movie

1984      Things Are Looking Up    Clement McCallister

The Duck Factory              Roland Culp        13 episodes

Riptide William Collins   Episode: It's a Vial Sort of Business

1985      Solomon's Universe        Casey    TV Movie

1986      Simon & Simon Wally Stokes      Episode: A.W.O.L.

1987      227        Harold Bailey     Episode: Matchmakers

The Facts of Life                Matt      Episode: The More the Marrier

1989      L.A. Takedown   Mustafa Jackson               TV Movie

1989–1993          Matlock                Conrad McMasters          85 episodes

1990      The Great Los Angeles Earthquake           Roy Bryant          TV Movie

1993–2001          Walker, Texas Ranger     Ranger James Trivette    196 episodes

1994      Walker Texas Ranger 3: Deadly Reunion                 TV Movie

1999      Sons of Thunder               Episode: Flighting Back

2005      Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire           TV Movie

2018      Christmas on the Coast Fletcher Reese TV Movie

TBA        Eleanor's Bench                Reginald               TV Movie; Filming