Career
He was described as "a handsome, mercurial, noisy, combative failed dreamer" and a "hard-drinking, skirt-chasing dandy of a daddy". Clay was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, the son of Herman H. Clay (March, 1876 – February 1, 1954) and Edith East. Greathouse (December, 1890 – December 30, 1971). Clay"s paternal grandparents were John Clay and Sallie Anne Clay.
Clay painted billboards and signs.
He also played the piano, took piano lessons and wrote music He was named after the 19th-century abolitionist and Republican politician Cassius Marcellus Clay.
He was a heavy drinker, which led to legal entanglements for reckless driving, disorderly conduct, and assault and battery. Clay died on February 8, 1990 after suffering a heart attack while leaving a department store in Jefferson County, Kentucky.
He was 77 years old.
Clay, was portrayed by Arthur Adams in the 1977 film, The Greatest and by Giancarlo Esposito in the 2001 Oscar-nominated film Ali.
