Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr.

According to DNA research, Muhammad Ali's paternal grandmother was Archer Alexander's (1816–1880) great-granddaughter.

Clay painted billboards and signs.

He also played the piano, took piano lessons and wrote music.

Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. (November 11, 1912 – February 8, 1990) 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.

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.

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".

Clay was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, to Herman H. Clay (March 1876 – February 1, 1954) and Edith E. Greathouse (December 1889 – December 30, 1972 ).

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 was portrayed by Arthur Adams in the 1977 film The Greatest and by Giancarlo Esposito in the 2001 Oscar-nominated film Ali.

Clay died at the age of 77 on February 8, 1990, after suffering a heart attack while leaving a department store in Kentucky.

He was named in honor of the 19th-century 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.