TLDR: Clarence Gilyard Jr., who played Jimmy Trivette on Walker Texas Ranger, left Hollywood in 2006 to become a beloved college professor at UNLV. He spent 16 years teaching theater students before passing away on November 28, 2022, at age 66. His journey from action star to educator became one of the most inspiring career transformations in television history.
When Clarence Gilyard Jr. walked away from Hollywood in 2006, people thought he was crazy.
He’d built a solid career playing memorable roles in some of the biggest action franchises of the 80s and 90s. He was Theo, the tech genius helping Hans Gruber rob Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard. He was Sundown, the cool-headed fighter pilot in Top Gun.
And for eight years on Walker Texas Ranger, he was James “Jimmy” Trivette, the tech-savvy partner who had Cordell Walker’s back through every roundhouse kick and moral lesson.
But Gilyard didn’t see it as walking away. He saw it as walking toward something better.
What happened to Clarence Gilyard after Walker Texas Ranger is one of the more interesting and inspiring stories to come out of that show’s cast. Instead of chasing diminishing returns in direct-to-video action movies or struggling for guest spots on procedurals, he became a college professor.
And apparently, he was absolutely brilliant at it!
From Texas Ranger to Teaching Theater
In 2006, Gilyard accepted a position as an associate professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This wasn’t a celebrity vanity gig where he showed up once a semester to give a motivational speech. This was real work.
For 16 years, Gilyard poured himself into training the next generation of actors. He brought real-world experience from major Hollywood productions into the classroom, teaching students what it actually takes to survive and thrive in the entertainment industry.
His students loved him. They didn’t just see him as “the guy from Die Hard” or “Jimmy from Walker.” They saw him as a mentor who genuinely cared about their success and understood the challenges they’d face trying to break into acting.
Gilyard had earned a Master of Fine Arts degree, giving him the academic credentials to back up his professional experience. But what made him special as a teacher wasn’t the degree. It was his humility, his work ethic, and his genuine passion for the craft.
He could have coasted on his name recognition. Instead, he showed up every day ready to do the work, treating teaching with the same professionalism he’d brought to every role he’d ever played.
He Didn’t Completely Leave Performing Behind
Even while teaching full-time at UNLV, Gilyard didn’t completely abandon performing. He just became a lot more selective about what projects he took on.
One of his most memorable post-Walker performances came on stage, not on screen. He reunited with his Walker co-star Sheree J. Wilson for a touring production of Driving Miss Daisy. Gilyard played Hoke Colburn, the role Morgan Freeman made famous in the 1989 film.
The production toured to venues including the University of New Mexico’s Popejoy Hall in 2016. Fans who’d watched Gilyard and Wilson fight crime together for years got to see them in a completely different context, showcasing dramatic range that Walker’s action-heavy scripts never fully explored.
Their chemistry was still there, decades after they’d last worked together on television. Reviews praised both actors for bringing depth and authenticity to the production.
Gilyard also appeared in several faith-based and independent films during this period. He had a role in A Matter of Faith in 2014, playing Professor Portland in a film that explored the tension between faith and science. In 2019, he appeared in The Perfect Race, another independent project.
His final film credit came in 2021 with the short film Legacy of a Spy, where he played a character named Bill Pope. It was a small role, but it would be his last performance on film.
The Die Hard Commercial That Broke the Internet
In 2020, Gilyard gave fans one more gift. He reprised his role as Theo from Die Hard for an Advance Auto Parts commercial.
The spot was pure nostalgia gold. Gilyard appeared alongside Bruce Willis, recreating the vibe of the 1988 action classic that had launched both of their careers. For fans of the original Die Hard, seeing Theo and John McClane together again, even in a car battery commercial, was everything.
The commercial went viral. Social media exploded with people sharing the clip and celebrating the reunion of two actors who’d created one of the greatest action movies ever made.
It was a reminder of Gilyard’s incredible screen presence. Even in a 30-second commercial, he commanded attention. That charisma, that ability to make you believe in whatever character he was playing, never went away.
Nobody knew it at the time, but this commercial would become one of Gilyard’s final performances that fans would see. Looking back, it feels like a perfect bookend to his career, bringing him back to one of the roles that started it all.
The Career Before Walker That Made Him a Star
To understand Clarence Gilyard’s legacy, you have to appreciate what he accomplished before Walker Texas Ranger ever premiered.
His role as Theo in Die Hard came in 1988, when Gilyard was just 33 years old. He played the computer hacker working with Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber to crack the vault at Nakatomi Plaza. It wasn’t a huge role, but Gilyard made it memorable with his cool professionalism and his character’s cocky confidence.
Two years earlier, in 1986, he’d appeared in Top Gun as Sundown, one of the elite fighter pilots at the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School. Again, it wasn’t a lead role, but he held his own in a film packed with charismatic actors competing for screen time.
Between Die Hard and Walker, Gilyard had a recurring role on Matlock from 1989 to 1993, playing private investigator Conrad McMasters. The show gave him steady work and proved he could handle the demands of episodic television.
By the time he was cast as Jimmy Trivette on Walker Texas Ranger in 1993, Gilyard had already proven himself in action movies, legal dramas, and everything in between. Chuck Norris knew exactly what he was getting: a consummate professional who could carry his weight in any scene.
Why Jimmy Trivette Worked So Well
Jimmy Trivette was the perfect complement to Cordell Walker. Where Walker was stoic and relied on martial arts and instinct, Trivette was the tech guy who brought modern investigative techniques to the partnership.
The show established that Trivette was a former Dallas Cowboys football player who’d turned to law enforcement. This backstory gave him instant credibility and explained his physical capabilities without needing him to match Norris’s martial arts expertise.
Gilyard played Trivette with warmth and humor that balanced Norris’s more serious energy. He was the guy who could crack a joke in the middle of a tense situation, making him relatable to audiences who might find Walker a bit too intense.
The chemistry between Norris and Gilyard was genuine. They developed a real friendship during the show’s eight-season run, and it showed on screen. You believed these two guys had each other’s backs no matter what.
Trivette appeared in nearly every episode from the show’s premiere in 1993 through season 8. Gilyard left the show before its final season in 2001, but his absence was felt. The partnership between Walker and Trivette had been the heart of the series.
His Final Years and Death
In the years leading up to his death, Gilyard’s health had been declining, though he kept the details relatively private.
Representatives noted that he had not been in good health for several years before 2022. He continued teaching at UNLV as long as he was able, but eventually had to step back from his duties.
Clarence Gilyard Jr. passed away on November 28, 2022, at the age of 66. The cause was described as a long illness, with specific details kept private out of respect for his family’s wishes.
The announcement of his death sent shockwaves through multiple communities. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas released statements honoring his contributions to the College of Fine Arts and the profound impact he’d had on students over 16 years of teaching.
His former students took to social media to share stories about how Professor Gilyard had changed their lives. These weren’t generic tributes. They were specific, detailed accounts of a teacher who genuinely cared, who stayed late to work with students, who wrote recommendation letters and made phone calls to help them land their first professional gigs.
The entertainment world mourned too. Die Hard fans, Top Gun fans, Matlock fans, and especially Walker Texas Ranger fans shared their favorite moments featuring Gilyard’s performances.
Chuck Norris Breaks His Silence
Chuck Norris, who’s famous for his stoic, unemotional public persona, broke character to honor his fallen friend.
Norris posted a heartfelt tribute that read: “It’s with great sadness to hear of the passing of a dear friend and co-star. For nearly a decade we had many great times working together and we both loved bringing the bad guys to justice.”
For Norris to publicly express that level of emotion was significant. It showed how much Gilyard had meant to him, both as a co-star and as a person.
Sheree J. Wilson, who’d worked with Gilyard on both Walker and Driving Miss Daisy, also shared tributes. She spoke about his kindness, his professionalism, and the special bond the Walker cast had shared.
In the years since his death, Wilson has become something of the keeper of the flame for the Walker cast’s memories. She frequently mentions Gilyard in interviews, ensuring that his legacy within that television family is never forgotten.
A Legacy Bigger Than Hollywood
What makes Clarence Gilyard’s story so compelling is that he proved there’s more than one way to measure success in entertainment.
He could have spent his post-Walker years chasing increasingly smaller roles in increasingly lower-budget productions, trying to recapture the glory of his action-star days. Many actors from that era did exactly that.
Instead, Gilyard chose to invest in the next generation. He took everything he’d learned from decades in Hollywood and poured it into students who needed exactly that kind of mentorship.
His legacy isn’t just the movies and TV shows he appeared in, though those remain impressive. His real legacy is the hundreds of actors he trained at UNLV, many of whom are now working professionals who carry his lessons with them every day.
Think about that impact. Every student Gilyard taught who went on to have a career in theater or film or television is, in a sense, an extension of his legacy. They’re teaching their own students or scene partners the lessons they learned from Professor Gilyard. That kind of influence compounds over time in ways that a filmography never could.
He also left behind a body of work that continues to reach new audiences. Kids discovering Die Hard for the first time are meeting Theo. Young people binging Walker Texas Ranger on streaming platforms are falling in love with Jimmy Trivette’s humor and loyalty. Top Gun fans watching the original before seeing the sequel are seeing Sundown in action.
These performances aren’t dated or forgotten. They’re still working, still entertaining people, still showing what Clarence Gilyard was capable of when he stepped in front of a camera.
What We Can Learn From His Journey
Clarence Gilyard’s career path from Hollywood to academia isn’t just interesting. It’s instructive.
He recognized when it was time to pivot. He understood that hanging onto the tail end of an acting career that had peaked could lead to bitterness and diminishing returns. Instead of white-knuckling his way through a slow decline, he chose to start a completely new chapter doing work that fulfilled him in different ways.
He didn’t abandon his values or his passions. Teaching theater allowed him to stay connected to the craft he loved while using his experience to help others. It was a perfect synthesis of who he’d been and who he wanted to become.
He approached teaching with the same professionalism he’d brought to acting. He didn’t phone it in. He didn’t treat it as a retirement gig. He worked his ass off because he believed the work mattered.
And perhaps most importantly, he proved that you can have multiple successful careers in one lifetime. You’re not locked into the first thing that makes you famous. You can reinvent yourself, learn new skills, and find fulfillment in unexpected places.
That’s a powerful message for anyone, whether you’re in entertainment or any other field where careers can be unpredictable and success can be fleeting.
Remembering Clarence Gilyard
When people ask “What happened to Clarence Gilyard?” the answer isn’t sad or disappointing. It’s actually inspiring.
He happened to make the brave choice to leave Hollywood at the height of his fame and build something meaningful in academia. He happened to touch hundreds of lives as a teacher. He happened to maintain friendships with his former co-stars and return to performing when projects genuinely interested him. He happened to live according to his values and find satisfaction in work that mattered.
Yes, his death in 2022 at age 66 came too soon. His students and colleagues at UNLV deserved more years with him. His family deserved more time. The world deserved more of whatever wisdom and talent he still had to offer.
But the life he lived was full and rich and purposeful. He was Theo. He was Sundown. He was Conrad McMasters. He was Jimmy Trivette. And most importantly, he was Professor Gilyard, a title he seemed to wear with as much pride as any character name.
That’s not a story about what could have been or should have been. That’s a story about a man who built exactly the life he wanted, on his own terms, and left the world better than he found it.
That’s a legacy worth celebrating.
