'Back to the Future' actor Matt Clark dead at 89: Cause of death revealed

Back to the Future star Matt Clark has passed away as the Westerns mainstay leaves behind a legacy that quietly shaped decades of film and TV.

TMZ broke the news on Tuesday, March 17, that the actor passed away at age 89. Though his official cause of death has not been confirmed, his daughter Aimee confirmed to the outlet that he passed away at his home in Austin, Texas, following “complications after back surgery.”

Clark’s career stretched across five decades, with fans recognising him most as bartender Chester in Back to the Future Part III. But that role was just one chapter in a filmography rooted deeply in the Western genre.

From the late 1950s through the 2010s, Clark appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, including Little House on the Prairie, Grace Under Fire and The Jeff Foxworthy Show. His final on-screen appearance came in A Million Ways to Die in the West in 2014.

According to his obituary, that film served as “a fitting farewell to the genre he had inhabited for most of his career; more than thirty Westerns among the more than fifty feature films he acted in.”

Off screen, Clark was remembered less for chasing fame and more for his love of the craft. His family described him as an “actor's actor” who valued working with people who shared his outlook on life. “He was impressed when working with good people who loved their families,” they shared.

They added that he felt “lucky” to have built the career he did, and ultimately “died the way he lived, on his terms.”

Clark is survived by his wife Sharon Mays and his daughter, Aimee Clark.