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

Gilyard reportedly had long been ill, but no other details were immediately available when the college of fine arts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) announced his death in a news release on Monday afternoon.

Fans of the 1986 Tom Cruise blockbuster Top Gun saw Gilyard depict a pilot codenamed Sundown in what was his movie debut. He was also the computer-smart terrorist Theo in the 1988 Bruce Willis flick Die Hard, a role he reprised in a 2021 Super Bowl commercial. And in 1989, he began regularly depicting private investigator Conrad McMasters in the primetime TV lawyer drama Matlock starring Andy Griffith.

UNLV brought Gilyard on to its theater department faculty as an associate professor in 2006. He cherished his role as an instructor there and prioritized it over hunting for more on-screen credits, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

According to the Review-Journal, Gilyard described his love of teaching in 2010.

Gilyard was the father of six children. He was divorced from Catherine Dutko and in 2001 married his wife, Elena Gilyard.