Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr.
Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. was an American painter and musician. He was the father of three-time World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali and Rahaman Ali, and the paternal grandfather of Laila Ali. He married Odessa Lee O'Grady in 1934 and worked as a painter. He was described as "a handsome, mercurial, noisy, combative failed dreamer" and a "hard-drinking, skirt-chasing dandy of a daddy". His son Muhammad Ali described him as "the fanciest dancer in Louisville".
Life and career
Clay was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, to Herman H. Clay and Edith E. Greathouse. He was named in honor of the 19th-century Kentucky-born Republican politician and staunch abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay. He had a sister and four brothers, including Nathaniel Clay. Clay's paternal grandparents were John Clay and Sallie Anne Clay. His sister Eva said that Sallie was a native of Madagascar. According to DNA research, Muhammad Ali's paternal grandmother was Archer Alexander's great-granddaughter.Clay painted billboards and signs. He also played the piano, took piano lessons and wrote music. Around 1933, he married Odessa Lee O'Grady. He was a heavy drinker, which led to legal entanglements for reckless driving, disorderly conduct, and assault and battery. When asked in 1970 why he had not become a Muslim as his son had done, he said: "my religion is my talent, that which supports me."
Clay died at the age of 77 on February 8, 1990, after suffering a heart attack while leaving a department store in Kentucky.