After more than five decades of captivating television and film audiences, Clifton Davis is ready to take on his first soap-opera role.
Davis, 79, portrays patriarch Vernon Dupree of the prestigious, affluent and “messy as hell” Dupree family in CBS’ Beyond the Gates. The series marks the first-ever, hour-long soap opera led by a Black cast.
To help him prepare, the That’s My Mama and Madam Secretary alum received a little advice from his Amen costar Anna Maria Horsford. Davis and Horsford appeared in all five seasons of the sitcom as Rev. Reuben Gregory and Thelma Frye, respectively. The show aired on NBC from 1986 to 1991.
“She said, ‘Go for it!’ ” Davis tells PEOPLE of Horsford’s tip. The actress, who played Vivienne Avant on The Bold and the Beautiful from 2015 to 2018, also told Davis: “‘I don’t need to tell you. You know what it’s like to be on television. I won’t give you any new ideas. Just embrace it. Embrace it with a full heart and open arms.’ “
Although Davis has years of acting under his belt, he expresses a fresh level of excitement when speaking exclusively with PEOPLE about joining Beyond the Gates, a series that is the first of its kind.
“I got to tell you, having been a part of historical Blacks on television 40 years ago — or more — this feels amazing,” he tells PEOPLE. “There’s African-American input on every level, and it feels like I stepped out of one dimension in 1972 with The Melba Moore-Clifton Davis Show and [into] another dimension in 2025 with Beyond the Gates.”
Davis’ Vernon Dupree is married to EGOT recipient Anita Dupree (Tamara Tunie) and father to two daughters, Dani Dupree (Karla Mosley) and Dr. Nicole Dupree Richardson (Daphnée Duplaix). He’s a former senator with a Barack Obama-esque demeanor, who loves his family more than anything and will do whatever it takes to protect them.
“He’s a nice guy,” Davis says of Vernon. “He’s a little low-key compared to some of the other people, but when it’s time, when it’s necessary, he can raise the level pretty high. You know, take a good swing at it [for] his family. He’ll defend them vociferously.”
He also gives a nod to his love story with Tunie’s Anita Dupree. “Anita and Vernon have a language all their own. They can finish each other’s sentences. They love each other so much, and they’re still quite affectionate.”
As for how Vernon is different from characters Davis has played in the past, he notes that for the first time in a long time, his character can “relax.”
“I played [director of national intelligence Ephraim Ware] on Madam Secretary,” he says. “That was the person who was somber and serious, everything was life and death. This time, [my character] gets to relax, he gets to laugh. He gets to play, but he’s still that same mature kind of person.”
“In all, he’s a strong, strong character, the anchor of the family, he holds it all together,” he adds.
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Davis says that he also pulls inspiration from his late minister father, Toussaint L’Ouverture Davis, for his performance as Vernon. “We have not been allowed to portray those characters in television a whole lot,” Davis continues, referencing the Dupree family’s status of wealth, influence and power in Fairmont Crest, an upscale, gated community on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.
“It’s important for us to be able to tell those stories and to meet the desires of that Black audience as well, who is faithful and has been faithful in watching soap operas,” Davis adds. “We’re now giving them another perspective and I’m proud to be a part of that history-making perspective.”
While Davis is settling into his new role, he admits the rigorous, 12-hour, five-days-a-week filming schedule has proven to be a challenge.
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“Right here, handy, are the next three scripts that we have to memorize,” Davis says as he holds up three bonded piles of paper. “I’ve already started memorizing all three of those. And here’s what’s happening: It becomes a way of life, and you ramp up your memory to accommodate what’s required.”
He likens it to the fast-paced environment on the set of Amen and credits his “nerd” tendencies and “good memory” with helping him remember his lines.
“That’s a lot of long hours, but it’s worth it. The biggest challenge is the time commitment, but it’s worth every bit of it,” Davis says. “We are thrilled. And there is no challenge we’ve met that we can’t complete.”
Beyond the Gates airs weekdays (2 p.m. ET) on CBS.
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