In Memoriam
‘Back to the Future’ Star Had Emotional Cast Reunion Before His Death at 89
Matt Clark, the late actor who played Chester the Bartender in Back to the Future Part III, reconnected with the film’s beloved star Michael J. Fox and other Back to the Future cast members last year.
Clark — who died on Sunday, March 15, at age 89 from complications after back surgery — reunited with the cast at the Back to the Future reunion at the Dallas Fan Expo in Texas for the film’s 40th anniversary in 2025, according to TMZ.
The outlet, which broke the news of his death, reported that Clark spoke with Fox, 64, backstage at the event and was also part of the cast Q&A.
Clark’s family told TMZ that he felt “lucky” for his career, which spanned film, television and theater.
Describing Clark as an “actor’s actor,” his family said that “he died the way he lived, on his terms.”
The actor also appeared in the 1967 Sidney Poitier classic In the Heat of the Night. That was followed by a string of Westerns, including 1972’s The Cowboys with John Wayne, Jeremiah Johnson with Robert Redford, and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman.
Clark also starred in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid in 1973, The Outlaw Josey Wales opposite Clint Eastwood in 1976 and the Western spoof A Million Ways to Die in the West in 2014.
