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Clyde Weston has been portrayed by
James Read since June 27, 2014. The character initially departed the role on October 20, 2015. However, he made guest appearances on multiple occasions, including from September 9–October 14, 2016, October 9–11, 2017 and July 6–9, 2018. The character has appeared on a recurring basis since November 19, 2019. Read exited the role when Clyde was shot and entered a coma during the December 11, 2024, episode. When
Kate Roberts investigates
Jordan Ridgeway's past, she discovers multiple driver's licenses with different names in her apartment as well as her connection to Salem newcomer
Ben Rogers. The evidence leads her to
Poplar Bluff, Missouri where she meets with Clyde Weston. Clyde reveals that Ben is his son Ollie, and Jordan is his stepdaughter, Tammy Sue. He also reveals they ran away from home years ago and he failed to find them. Kate tells Clyde they are in Salem. He comes for a reunion but tells her to keep their meeting secret. Ben and Jordan are furious when they see Clyde and it is revealed that Clyde's alcoholism led to verbal and physical abuse of the children and their mother. Clyde insists he has changed and wants a relationship with his son. He asks Kate for contacts from her past dealings with shady business in Salem. Clyde has a meeting with
EJ DiMera, who agrees to Clyde's requests to work for his drug ring. They soon argue over drug territory and drugs. During one argument in the park, EJ's disloyal bodyguard Miguel, who Clyde turned against EJ, shoots and kills EJ. Clyde and Miguel cover up the crime and make the scene look like EJ was robbed and killed by a low-level drug addict. Miguel fears EJ's father
Stefano DiMera will uncover the truth; Clyde tells his assistant Jeremiah to murder Miguel and bury the body on Jeremiah's grandfather's farm in Missouri. Clyde tells Jordan that if she interferes with his reconciliation with Ben, he will reveal to Ben that Jordan caused the car wreck that killed their mother. Jordan warns her boyfriend
Rafe Hernandez, a detective, that Clyde is dangerous. Rafe becomes suspicious of Clyde and begins investigating him. Clyde begins dating Kate and moves his trucking business, his cover for his drug business, to Salem. Clyde is confronted by
Victor Kiriakis who argues that the Kiriakis family runs all trucking operations in Salem; Clyde refuses to back down. Victor investigates Clyde's background and discovers his trucking company and other front businesses are used to launder drug money. Victor also discovers Clyde has managed to seize control of most of the drug business in the
Ozarks. Clyde is shot by Victor's hitman Damon and is thought to be dead.
Sonny Kiriakis is stabbed in the park and Clyde reveals to Victor that he survived the hit and admits he stabbed Sonny in retaliation. Victor and Clyde call a truce when Victor agrees to let Clyde take over his territory in Salem. Clyde's relationships with Ben and Kate improve but when he donates a large sum of money to the local hospital to fund Jordan's project, she moves to New York. He continues to advise Ben on his relationship with
Abigail Deveraux and plots against Ben's new rival
Chad DiMera. Kate fails in her scheme to permanently take over DiMera Enterprises and seeks comfort from Clyde. Clyde dismisses Stefano saying that he can beat the
DiMeras. Kate warns Clyde that the DiMeras are cruel and ruthless with their enemies. Stefano uncovers Ben's past activity in illegal gambling in Florida and ensures the club manager testifies against him. Clyde uses his contacts to have the manager killed in prison before he can testify. Clyde finds out Abby cheated on Ben with Chad and discovers she is pregnant. Clyde forces a lab technician to make the tests say Ben is the father. When Stefano returns to Salem, Clyde visits him and secretly places a bug in the DiMera house but Stefano orders him to leave. The bug reveals Abby is due to inherit valuable land in Ireland that the DiMeras desperately want. Chad refuses to go along with Stefano's plan to reconcile with Abby and thus get the land. Clyde begins to think Ben and he will benefit from Abby's inheritance. Stefano meets with Victor about Clyde. Victor reveals to Stefano his past dealings with Clyde and assures Stefano that Clyde is a serious threat to both of them and their families. Stefano and Victor agree to work together against Clyde. Kate breaks up with Clyde when he becomes controlling, saying his confidence was attractive at first but he is arrogant. Clyde is revealed to be local drug dealer Kyle Southern's boss. Kyle, who is dating
Paige Larson, hires her ex-boyfriend
JJ Deveraux, unaware that JJ is secretly working with the
DEA and Salem police commissioner
Roman Brady. Paige's mother
Eve Donovan tells Kyle that JJ is working with the DEA. Kyle tells Clyde that he needs to personally deal with the situation. Clyde arrives at Kyle's apartment and Kyle knocks JJ unconscious. JJ awakens to find that Clyde has killed Kyle and Clyde asks if JJ is working with the police. JJ tells Clyde that he had an affair with Eve which caused Paige to disown Eve and in revenge Eve made up the story and told Kyle. Clyde believes JJ and hires him to replace Kyle. Clyde threatens to kill JJ's mother
Jennifer Horton, sister Abigail, and ex-girlfriend Paige if he tells Ben about their drug deals. Later Paige is found dead in her dorm and JJ accuses Clyde of murdering Paige. A secret investigation of Clyde leads to a sting operation involving JJ, Roman Brady, and DEA agent Watts, which leads to his arrest for drug trafficking. Clyde discovers during his arrest that JJ was secretly an informant and that Clyde's drug ring has been exposed to the Salem Police and DEA. He calls his son Ben and claims to be set up by JJ but Roman reveals that Clyde is being extradited to Florida for a murder charge there. On October 20, 2015, Ben is brought to a meeting at the police station with Clyde who tells Ben he is being extradited to Florida that day. Ben reveals to Clyde that he is the
Necktie Killer. In 2016, Chad reveals that Clyde is imprisoned in a federal penitentiary for murder. That September,
Marlena visits Clyde in prison and he asks her to evaluate him. Clyde says he would rather be stuck in prison than deal with the people of Salem. Clyde and Orpheus bond over their mutual dislike of the people of Salem and plot a breakout. Clyde gets transferred into Orpheus' cell and recruits
Xander Kiriakis. During a transfer, Eduardo Hernandez kills an inmate, believing he was responsible for threatening their family. Orpheus knocks the driver unconscious and the prison van crashes. Clyde makes his way to Kate's house and threatens her with a gun.
Chad DiMera arrives and the two fight; Clyde manages to escape before the police arrive. Clyde, Xander, and Orpheus regroup. Clyde has some of his old contacts provide them with new clothes and weapons. The trio kidnap
Kayla Brady and
Joey Johnson.
Steve Johnson attempts to rattle Clyde and Xander's faith in Orpheus. Steve and Orpheus get into a fight and the trio get away. Clyde and Orpheus corner Marlena, Claire, and Kate at the pier. John arrives and Orpheus is shot in the struggle. The trio decide to publicly make their demands known and flee to the Kiriakis compound. Clyde finds a case full of weaponry that his former partner-in-crime Jeremiah arranged for him. Getting a good vantage point, Clyde waits for Orpheus to make their demands known before he attempts to shoot
Aiden Jennings. He accidentally shoots
Abe Carver instead and flees before the Salem Police can retaliate. Wracked with guilt over shooting an innocent man, Clyde starts drinking and tells Orpheus his life's story: he was abused by his father and realizes that he treated his children the way his father treated him. He also expresses regret that Jordan wants nothing to do with him. Orpehus orders Clyde and Xander to watch Joey while he goes to kill
John Black. Clyde stands guard on the pier and Abe's son
Theo Carver confronts him with a gun. He hesitates and Clyde takes advantage of the opportunity. Steve and J.J. reveal themselves, and Clyde flees while sending a text message to Orpehus, telling him to "abort". Clyde decides to kill Chad and kidnap his son
Thomas DiMera. After stealing some baby clothes for Thomas, Clyde encounters
Andre DiMera, and is shocked that Stefano has another son. Clyde threatens to kill him, but Andre offers to help him get into the DiMera mansion and kidnap Thomas. With Andre's help, Clyde gets into the mansion through the secret tunnels and holds Chad at gunpoint. After Andre leaves the room, Chad and Clyde fight until Andre returns with
Lucas Horton and
Adrienne Johnson tied up. Clyde tries to threaten them into telling him where Thomas is, but Andre shoots Chad. Clyde looks for Thomas. He hears a baby crying, and follows it into a booby-trapped room where he waits for the Salem Police to arrest him. Clyde is brought into the main room where he learns Chad is fine. He warns Chad to watch his back around Andre, but Chad is confident he does not have anything to worry about. Clyde rages that the baby belongs to his son Ben, before being dragged out of the mansion. Once at the Salem Police station, Aiden is happy to book Clyde and make sure that not only would he be back in prison, but he would be held in solitary confinement for a long time. On October 13, John reveals that Clyde is back serving his original 25 to life prison sentence and that new charges from the prison break have also been added to his sentence. ==Serena Mason==