Clarence Darnell Gilyard Jr. was a professor at an American university, an actor, and an author. He was born on December 24, 1955, and he died on November 28, 2022. He appeared in stage, cinema, and television projects in his position as a performer. Sometimes people called him Clarence A. Gilyard.
Gilyard is best known for his performances as James “Jimmy” Trivette, Cordell Walker, Theo, Pastor Bruce Barnes, and James “Jimmy” Trivette in the 1989–1993 legal drama series Matlock. He also played Pastor Bruce Barnes in the Left Behind film trilogy. In the 1990s television crime drama Walker, Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris played Cordell Walker.
What happened to Clarence Gilyard on Matlock?
From 1989 through 1993, Gilyard portrayed Conrad McMasters, Ben Matlock’s private eye, on the Andy Griffith television series Matlock. He took over for Kene Holliday, who was fired due to his drug and alcohol abuse. Gilyard started to make an appearance in practically every episode of Matlock in season 3. Production was transferred from Los Angeles to Wilmington, North Carolina when the show switched networks for its seventh season, going from NBC to ABC. Gilyard agreed to Andy Griffith’s recommendation that he relocate there as well, which he did before leaving to work on a pilot for another CBS series the following year.
