{"id":1754434,"date":"2022-11-29T08:57:32","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T13:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1754434"},"modified":"2022-11-29T08:57:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T13:57:38","slug":"clarence-gilyard-jr-known-for-top-gun-die-hard-matlock-walker-texas-ranger-dead-at-66","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/clarence-gilyard-jr-known-for-top-gun-die-hard-matlock-walker-texas-ranger-dead-at-66\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarence Gilyard Jr., Known For \u2018Top Gun,\u2019 \u2018Die Hard,\u2019 \u2018Matlock,\u2019 \u2018Walker, Texas Ranger,\u2019 Dead At 66"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fclarence-gilyard-jr-known-for-top-gun-die-hard-matlock-walker-texas-ranger-dead-at-66%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1754434&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Clarence Gilyard Jr., known for starring in \u201cWalker, Texas Ranger\u201d and for supporting roles in several box office hits, has died. He was 66.<\/p>\n<p>Gilyard died after a battle with a \u201clong illness,\u201d the Las Vegas Review-Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/entertainment\/entertainment-columns\/kats\/die-hard-actor-unlv-professor-clarence-gilyard-dies-2684167\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>, adding that no further details are currently known about his death.<\/p>\n<p>His death was confirmed in a statement that was published late Monday by the University of Northern Las Vegas\u2019 College of Fine Arts, where he had worked as a film and theater professor in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProfessor Gilyard was a beacon of light and strength for everyone around him,\u201d UNLV film chair Heather Addison <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2022\/tv\/obituaries-people-news\/clarence-gilyard-jr-dead-walker-texas-ranger-die-hard-1235443900\/\">said<\/a>. \u201cWhenever we asked him how he was, he would cheerfully declare that he was \u2018Blessed!\u2019 But we are truly the ones who were blessed to be his colleagues and students for so many years. We love you and will miss you dearly, Professor G!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UNLV Dean Nancy J. Uscher of Gilyard <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2022\/11\/clarence-gilyard-jr-dead-walker-texas-ranger-die-hard-matlock-top-gun-1235183554\/\">said<\/a>, \u201cHis students were deeply inspired by him, as were all who knew him. He had many extraordinary talents and was extremely well-known in the university through his dedication to teaching and his professional accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis generosity of spirit was boundless \u2013 he was always ready to contribute to projects and performances however possible,\u201d Uscher continued. \u201cWe remember Clarence with joy and gratitude for all he contributed to the College of Fine Arts, the UNLV community, and, through his impressive personal achievements, to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gilyard had put his acting career on hold for a period of time to teach at UNLV. \u201cMy manager-agent is not happy that I\u2019m not working, but the university is just too much fun. And once you start a semester and meet those students, it\u2019s like doing a TV series,\u201d Gilyard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/entertainment\/entertainment-columns\/kats\/die-hard-actor-unlv-professor-clarence-gilyard-dies-2684167\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> in 2010. \u201cYou\u2019re plugged into them. How can you leave them once you see in their eyes that they\u2019re depending on you? They have aspirations for their own growth for those 15 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Born on Christmas Eve in 1955, Gilyard grew up a military brat and moved throughout the U.S. and even spent a year at the Air Force Academy as a cadet when he was older.<\/p>\n<p>Gilyard made his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0319739\/?ref_=tt_cl_t_4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first major appearance<\/a> as Lieutenant Marcus \u201cSundown\u201d Williams in \u201cTop Gun\u201d in the 1980s and later as the computer savvy terrorist Theo in \u201cDie Hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the late 1980s, he starred as Conrad McMasters on \u201cMatlock,\u201d and later departed to play Jimmy Trivette on Chuck Norris\u2019 hit crime show \u201cWalker, Texas Ranger,\u201d where he appeared in 196 episodes of the show which spanned nearly a decade.<\/p>\n<p>Gilyard was a devout Christian and played in several Christian movies, including, \u201cA Matter of Faith,\u201d \u201cChristmas on the Coast,\u201d \u201cThe Perfect Race,\u201d and \u201cLeft Behind: The Movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/mystery-of-kung-fu-icon-bruce-lees-death-may-finally-be-solved\">Mystery Of Kung Fu Icon Bruce Lee\u2019s Death May Finally Be Solved<\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clarence Gilyard Jr., known for starring in \u201cWalker, Texas Ranger\u201d and for supporting roles in several box office hits, has died. He was 66. Gilyard died after a battle with a \u201clong illness,\u201d the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, adding that no further details are currently known about his death. His death was confirmed in a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":1754444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1754434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1754434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1754444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1754434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1754434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1754434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}