Clarence Gilyard, Die Hard and Top Gun actor and professor, dies aged 66 - The Guardian

The movie and tv histrion Clarence Gilyard – who was known for supporting roles successful the movies Top Gun and Die Hard and for starring successful the TV amusement Walker, Texas Ranger – has died, according to the assemblage wherever helium taught. He was 66.

Gilyard reportedly had agelong been ill, but nary different details were instantly disposable erstwhile the assemblage of good arts astatine the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) announced his decease successful a quality merchandise connected Monday afternoon.

Adrian Pasdar and Clarence Gilyard successful Top Gun. Photograph: CBS Photo Archive/CBS/Getty Images

Fans of the 1986 Tom Cruise blockbuster Top Gun saw Gilyard picture a aviator codenamed Sundown successful what was his movie debut. He was besides the computer-smart violent Theo successful the 1988 Bruce Willis flick Die Hard, a relation helium reprised successful a 2021 Super Bowl commercial. And successful 1989, helium began regularly depicting backstage researcher Conrad McMasters successful the primetime TV lawyer play Matlock starring Andy Griffith.

Gilyard moved connected successful 1993 aft 85 appearances connected Matlock and took connected a relation arsenic the sidekick to Chuck Norris’s titular quality connected the TV transgression play Walker, Texas Ranger. He portrayed the quality Jimmy Trivette passim the show’s full eight-season tally – and adjacent directed 1 of its 196 episodes – earlier it concluded successful 2001.

UNLV brought Gilyard connected to its theatre section module arsenic an subordinate prof successful 2006. He cherished his relation arsenic an teacher determination and prioritized it implicit hunting for much on-screen credits, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Clarence Gilyard successful April 2018. Photograph: Arlene Richie/Rex/Shutterstock

According to the Review-Journal, Gilyard described his emotion of teaching successful 2010.

“My manager-agent is not blessed that I’m not working, but the assemblage is conscionable excessively overmuch fun,” Gilyard said astatine the time. “And erstwhile you commencement a semester and conscionable those students, it’s similar doing a TV series.

“You’re plugged into them. How tin you permission them erstwhile you spot successful their eyes that they’re depending connected you? They person aspirations for their ain maturation for those 15 weeks.”

The school’s assemblage of good arts dean, Nancy Uscher, said successful a connection connected Monday that Gilyard “deeply inspired” his students.

“His generosity of tone was boundless – helium was ever acceptable to lend to projects and performances nevertheless possible,” Uscher’s connection added.

The movie professional Courtney Howard said connected Twitter precocious connected Monday that Gilyard’s assemblage of enactment “solidified his spot successful movie history”, but his world vocation was of adjacent consequence, making an “innumerable interaction successful existent life”.

Before embarking connected his acting career, Gilyard was calved successful Moses Lake, Washington, and grew up successful a subject household which lived astatine airbases crossed the US earlier settling successful California. He aboriginal attended the US aerial unit academy for a twelvemonth and yet earned his bachelor’s grade from California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Gilyard was the begetter of six children. He was divorced from Catherine Dutko and successful 2001 joined his wife, Elena Gilyard.