The actor who played Walker Texas Ranger, Clarence Gilyard, has died. The actor who was a big name in movies in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s died at only 66 years old.
Gilyard was liked by many people and groups, including his devoted followers, the students he taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and in the Department of Film, his fellow faculty members, his family, and even his close friends. Everyone whose life he touched or whose path he crossed will be deeply affected by his death.
In a tribute to Gilyard, the head of the film department at UNLV, Dr. Heather Addison, who worked with Gilyard, said that he “would be missed but not forgotten.”
He talked about how he had worked with Gilyard as a co-teacher for the past 15 years and how happy he was when Gilyard joined the school. Addison said that he remembered seeing Gilyard in “Die Hard” and thinking that he would like to work with him someday. Gilyard was able to make this dream come true when he decided to take a break from acting and go to school.
Before he told his family and friends that he was sorry, he thanked Gilyard for the love, sacrifices, and dedication he had shown. Many people thought of him as more than just a teacher or a famous actor, and Addison wrote about this:
Professor Gilyard was a beacon of light and strength.
Most people remember him for his role as Texas Ranger Sergeant James “Jimmy” Trivette in the popular action-crime show “Walker, Texas Ranger,” which he played with Chuck Norris.
In the 1990s TV show, Gilyard played alongside Chuck Norris, who was his best friend and a fellow Texas Ranger Sergeant (played by Cordell Walker). Together, they went after criminals and fought them to keep Dallas safe from the dangers it faced.
In 1986, he made his movie debut as Lieutenant Marcus “Sundown” Williams in “Top Gun” and in “Die Hard,” he played Theo, a criminal computer expert, and he also had a small role in “The Princess Bride.” In the TV show “Matlock,” in which he co-starred in with Andy Griffith, he also played Ben Matlock’s hired private investigator, Conrad McMasters.
But in the end, he decided to take a break from the movie business. In 2006, he started working as an associate professor at UNLV. He didn’t go back to making movies again until 2012.
Why did Clarence get up at 3 a.m. to pray for his children with his wife?
Gilrad was a respected movie star, professor, and family man. He loved his wife, Elena, whom he had been married to for 21 years, and he loved his two children, a daughter, and a son.
Even though Gilyard had a successful career, he thought that his most important job and purpose in life was to be a loving parent to his children and to pray for them all the time. During the interview, Gilyard told the organization Family Rosary that he and his wife regularly prayed for their children.
Even though he did his best to raise his children to be good people, the actor from “Sons of Thunder” knew that they could still be hurt by things in the outside world. He said this at the time:
My job is to pray for them without ceasing and ask for everybody’s intercession whether they’re on earth or not to intercede for the souls of my 20-year-old daughter and my 21-year-old son.
Gilyard knew that he was giving his two smart and kind children a great upbringing. But he also knew that they were growing up in a harsh world, both economically and socially, and he was afraid that if he didn’t pray for them, their lives wouldn’t be as good as he had hoped they would be.
In light of this, he asked them to pray to God during mass for at least an hour every week. Because he got up at 3 a.m. to pray for his children, Rachel and Paul, he thought that if he and his wife kept praying for them, a saint in heaven would one day go to God and ask him to help his children. All of this happened because he got up at 3 a.m. to pray for his kids.
May God give him peace for all time!
