Actor Clarence Gilyard Jr., who was known for roles in Walker, Texas Ranger and Die Hard, died on Monday, November 28, 2022. He was 66 years old.

Gilyard had been working as a theater and film professor at the College of Fine Arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Nancy J. Uscher, the school’s dean, announced his passing, “It is with profound sadness that I share this news. His 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. He had a national and international following through his celebrated work in the theater, in film, and television.”

Born December 24, 1955, in Moses Lake, Washington, Gilyard had a 30-year career as a stage and screen actor and teacher. His early stage work was in a play based on Aesop’s Fables, then he starred in the play Bleacher Bums about baseball fans. He earned a degree in theatre arts from California State University.

Gilyard’s first onscreen role was in two episodes of Diff’rent Strokes, then he had a recurring role on CHiPs. He played pilot Marcus “Sundown” Williams in Top Gun, an ice-breaking soldier in The Karate Kid Part II, did an episode of 227, then he played Theo the tech specialist in Die Hard.

During the second half of Matlock, he played Conrad McMasters, a former deputy sheriff and Ben’s private investigator. He starred in the ‘90s Western/crime drama Walker, Texas Ranger as Walker’s partner and best friend, Sergeant Jimmy Trivette.

Gilyard’s later roles included Walker movies, Left Behind: The Movie, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, Little Monsters, A Matter of Faith, The Beast, and Christmas on the Coast.