Clarence Gilyard Jr.
Birthday: Born in 1955-12-24 in Moses Lake, Washington, USA
Deathday: 2022-11-23
Clarence Alfred Gilyard Jr. (December 24, 1955 – November 23, 2022) was an American university professor, actor, and author. As a performer, he appeared in film, television, and stage productions; some sources give his middle name as Alfred. Gilyard was known for his roles as second private investigator and right-hand man Conrad McMasters to Ben Matlock (played by Andy Griffith) on the legal drama series Matlock from 1989 to 1993; Pastor Bruce Barnes in the first two Left Behind movies; Cordell Walker's (played by Chuck Norris) Texas Ranger partner, James "Jimmy" Trivette, in the 1990s crime drama Walker, Texas Ranger; Theo, the terrorist computer expert in Die Hard; and Lieutenant (junior grade) Evan "Sundown" Gough in Top Gun.
TV Credits
The Facts of Life
Character: Matt
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979, to May 7, 1988, making it the longest running sitcom of the 1980s. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focuses on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, an all-female boarding school in Peekskill, New York....
Matlock
Character: Conrad McMasters
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock. The show, produced by The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions, Viacom Productions and Paramount Television originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC; and from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC. The show's format is similar to that of CBS's Perry Mason, with Matlock identifying the perpetrators and then confronting them in dr...
Simon & Simon
Character: Wally Stokes
Simon & Simon is an American detective television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981 to January 21, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two brothers who run a private detective agency together....
227
Character: Harold Bailey
A housewife sits on the stoop of her apartment building in a black neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and discusses all manner of things with her neighbors....
Diff'rent Strokes
Character: The Student
The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two African American boys from Harlem who are taken in by a rich white Park Avenue businessman named Phillip Drummond and his daughter Kimberly, for whom their deceased mother previously worked. During the first season and first half of the second season, Charlotte Rae also starred as the Drummonds' housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett....
Sons of Thunder
Character:
Sons of Thunder is a television show that ran from March to April 1999 on CBS. It was a spin-off of Walker, Texas Ranger....
The Duck Factory
Character: Roland Culp
The Duck Factory is a 1984 NBC television series produced by MTM Enterprises that is perhaps most notable for being Jim Carrey's first lead role in a Hollywood production. The show was co-created by Allan Burns. The premiere episode introduces Skip Tarkenton, a somewhat naive and optimistic young man who has come to Hollywood looking for a job as a cartoonist. When he arrives at a low-budget animation company called Buddy Winkler Productions, he finds out Buddy Winkler has just died, and the co...
CHiPs
Character: Benjamin Webster
Lighthearted look at the adventures of two Highway Patrol officers in Los Angeles. The main characters are Jon Baker and Frank Poncherello, two motorcycle officers always on the street to save lives....
Walker, Texas Ranger
Character: James 'Jimmy' Trivette
Modern-day Texas Ranger, Cordell Walker's independent crime-solving methods have their roots in the rugged traditions of the Old West. Walker's closest friend is former Ranger, C.D. Parker, who retired after a knee injury, and now owns "C.D.'s," a Country/Western saloon/restaurant. Rookie Ranger, James "Jimmy" Trivette is an ex-football player who bases his crime-solving methods on reason and uses computers and cellular phones. Alex Cahill is the Assistant DA who shares a mutual attraction with ...
Diff'rent Strokes
Character: Frank Simpson
The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two African American boys from Harlem who are taken in by a rich white Park Avenue businessman named Phillip Drummond and his daughter Kimberly, for whom their deceased mother previously worked. During the first season and first half of the second season, Charlotte Rae also starred as the Drummonds' housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett....
Movie Credits
Die Hard
Character: Theo
NYPD cop John McClane's plan to reconcile with his estranged wife is thrown for a serious loop when, minutes after he arrives at her offices Christmas Party, the entire building is overtaken by a group of terrorists. With little help from the LAPD, wisecracking McClane sets out to single-handedly rescue the hostages and bring the bad guys down....
Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire
Character: Ranger James 'Jimmy' Trivette
Walker investigates a murder connected with a missing government weapon. In addition, he tries to track down a teen on the run from a crime syndicate....
Left Behind II: Tribulation Force
Character: Pastor Bruce Barnes
After millions vanish, a group of people must band together to form the Tribulation Force and prepare themselves for the worst seven years the planet has ever seen....
Left Behind
Character: Pastor Bruce Barnes
After learning that millions have completely vanished, an airline pilot, a journalist, and others work together to unravel the mystery of those left behind....
The Great Los Angeles Earthquake
Character: Roy Bryant
After a series of small tremors in Los Angeles, Dr. Clare Winslow, a local seismologist, pinpoints the exact location and time of when the long awaited earthquake--"The Big One"--will strike southern California. With this information, she must battle city officials to release this information to the general public. Also, she hopes that her family is out of harms way when the quake strikes. Subplots show how other families and people cope with the the tremors that strike before the impending "Big...
Little Monsters
Character: Ben Foreman
James and Carl were only 10 years old when they kidnapped and murdered 3 year old David McClendon. They were caught, tried, convicted and placed in separate juvenile facilities. At 18-years old, both are given new names and released back into society - much to the horror of the nation. They can have no contact with each other or with their past friends or relatives. The story follows the lives of these two boys as they try to start over, escape the past and survive the growing outcry following t...
Off the Mark
Character: James B. White
A teenaged boy's family once hosted a Russian exchange student in their home for a year. Several years later, as adults, the two find themselves competing against each other in a Triathlon competition....
A Matter of Faith
Character: Professor Portland
Christian girl Rachel Whitaker goes off to college for her freshman year and begins to be influenced by her popular biology professor Marcus Kaman, who teaches that evolution is the answer to the origins of life. When Rachel’s father senses something amiss with his daughter, he begins to examine the situation and what he discovers catches him completely off-guard. Now very concerned about Rachel drifting away from her Christian faith, he sets out to do something about it....
The Kid with the 200 I.Q.
Character:
A 13-year-old genius goes to college and tries to cope not only with campus social life, but also with his professor....
Top Gun
Character: Sundown
For Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. But a tragedy, as well as personal demons, will threaten Pete's dreams of becoming an ace pilot....
Walker Texas Ranger 3: Deadly Reunion
Character: Ranger James 'Jimmy' Trivette
An experienced member of Texas Rangers, a special police unit, arrives to compete in a pistol shooting tournament, but so does a hitman who's planing to assassinate a US senator who will be among the spectators....
Rabbit Days
Character: Auguste Porter
Eccentric community theatre director August Porter invites a few guests to his secluded mountain lodge for a dinner party. But something is in the woods… waiting…...
The Sector
Character: Reverend Raines
In a dystopian world, a bounty hunter sets out to capture a ruthless band of outlaws who have kidnapped an important father and daughter through a world of multiverses. Unbeknownst to the Outlaws and the Bounty Hunter is that another, more powerful man known only as The Finisher has plans of his own....
The Karate Kid Part II
Character: G.I. #1
Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turned vengeful rival. Sato is bent on a fight to the death, even if it means the destruction of their village. Daniel finds his own love in Yukia's niece, Kumiko, and his own enemy in Sato's nephew, the vicious Chozen. Now, far away from the tournaments, cheering crowds and safety of home, Daniel will f...
Christmas on the Coast
Character: Fletcher Reese
Hard-hearted New York novelist Dru Cassadine...known for her holiday romance stories (even though she is antilove and anti-Christmas)...is desperate to get her mojo back after a string of flops (and a not-so-subtle threat by her publisher that he'll drop her if she has another failure). She decides that a change of scenery might get her creative juices flowing and heads south for the winter, landing in a place known as Harbor Pointe. She doesn't quite get what she came for. She gets much more....
The Perfect Race
Character: Coach Michaels
A female athlete at a small Christian college works hard to overcome long odds in trying to win a national title in the 800 meter run. "The Perfect Race" is a follow up movie to "Remember The Goal"....
L.A. Takedown
Character: Mustafa Jackson
Michael Mann's gutsy telefilm tells the tale of two skilled professionals--one a cop, the other a criminal--who aren't as different as they think. Vincent Hanna is an intense cop on the trail of ruthless armed robber Patrick McLaren. After a botched heist, the two men confront each via a full scale battle on the seedy streets of Los Angeles....
Walker, Texas Ranger: One Riot, One Ranger
Character: Ranger James 'Jimmy' Trivette
Among the issues Walker has to deal with: a new partner named Trivette, a group of men terrorizing a circus family who camp out at his home, and some bad guys who plan on the ultimate bank caper....