This time of year Die Hard gets a lot more play, as it is a popular Christmas movie for many. While the film brings joy to millions, it's also slowly becoming a bit of a heartbreaking film. Alan Rickman has passed away, and we recently learned Bruce Willis is dealing with a significant illness. But now we have yet another Die Hard loss to add to the list as Clarence Gilyard, who played the iconic role of Theo, has passed away.
According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Gilyard had been dealing with an unspecified illness recently, and he succumb to it on Monday at the age of 66. Since 2006, Clarance Gilyard had been a fine arts professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Most movie fans will recognize Gilyard as the "computer guy" in Hans Gruber's group of thieves in the original Die Hard. He was possibly the most memorable of the bad guys behind Alan Rickman's Gruber himself. The two also shared several of the film's best scenes.
Theo was the guy among the villains who never ran around with a gun and had a sense of humor, making him potentially more memorable even after a single viewing. He's also the bad guy that comes the closest to getting away, and one of the few that actually survives the night.
While Gilyard had a comparatively small number of credits to his name, that list of credits was significant. He played the role of Sundown in Top Gun, the pilot who becomes Maverick's backseat following the death of Goose. He was also Chuck Norris' partner on the long running Walker, Texas Ranger. That regular role on TV followed his recurring appearance on Andy Griffith's lawyer series Matlock where he played an investigator.
Gilyard reprised his role as Theo for the "short film," DieHard is Back, a long form advertisement for DieHard car batteries, that reunited him with Bruce Willis. The film acts as a sort of sequel to the original Die Hard that sees Theo trying to get revenge on John McClane for the events of the film.
While Gilyard had largely put his career on hold after gong to work at UNLV, he had continued to act in smaller projects. He's currently listed to be mid-production on a TV movie called Eleanor's Beach and had been cast in a film that was currently in pre-production.
Many actors who make it to 66 would have built a significant filmography with hundreds of roles. While Clarence Gilyard did not, his few screen appearances were quite significant, and they were of the sort that tended to get noticed. And it sounds like he loved teaching the next generation of actors.
