Clara Clayton-Brown, more commonly known as Clara Clayton, is the tritagonist of the Back to the Future franchise. She was portrayed by Mary Steenburgen.
Biography[]
Original History[]
Clara Clayton was born on October 25, 1855, in New Jersey, to Daniel and Martha Clayton. Her uncle, Ulysses S. Clayton, served as a general during the American Civil War.
At the age of 11, Clara contracted diphtheria and was quarantined for three months. During this time, her father gave her a telescope, placing it by her bed so she could observe the world outside her window. This sparked a lifelong passion for science and astronomy.
Details about her life between 1873 and 1885 are scarce, but it is known that she became a schoolteacher, a profession she had been practicing for several years before 1885. When she learned that Hill Valley was looking for a new teacher, she decided to leave New Jersey and move to California to begin a new chapter in her life.
On September 4, 1885, Clara arrived in Hill Valley, California, to take up her new role as a schoolteacher. However, as no one had come to meet her, she rented a wagon and two horses from Joe Statler. Tragically, the horses were frightened by a snake, causing Clara to fall into Shonash Ravine, which was later renamed Clayton Ravine in her honor. Her untimely death became a tragic legend among Hill Valley schoolchildren, who often joked about wishing their own teachers would fall into the ravine.
First altered timeline[]
Doc volunteered to pick Clara up from the train station on September 4, 1885. They met there and instantly fell in love, with Clara inviting him to join her at the Hill Valley Festival. Tragically, the next day, Doc was shot in the back by Buford Tannen during the festival and passed away on September 7, 1885. Clara contributed to the cost of Doc's tombstone, engraving it with "Beloved Clara."
The details of Clara's life after Doc's death remain unclear, both in the film and in comments by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis. In their official timeline summary, they suggested that her death was not connected to the ravine, implying that if Marty had visited the ravine during his second trip to 1955, it would still have been called "Shonash Ravine." In this version, Clara either continued living in Hill Valley as a schoolteacher or left to start a new life without Doc. Another theory, inspired by a popular fan idea, posits that Clara, devastated by Doc's death, took her own life on September 15, 1885, by throwing herself into the ravine, which was subsequently renamed "Clayton Ravine" in her memory. Gale and Zemeckis have left both possibilities open, allowing viewers to interpret her fate for themselves.
Second altered timeline[]
After Marty traveled back to 1885 and created a new timeline, Doc learned about his relationship with Clara the day before they were supposed to meet. Believing that if he never encountered her, he would never fall in love and thus avoid disrupting the space-time continuum, Doc decided not to pick Clara up from the station.
On September 4, 1885, after Doc’s absence, Clara rented a buckboard from Joe Statler. When the horses were startled by a snake, Clara's life was saved by Doc and Marty, who were nearby. Once again, Clara and Doc fell in love at first sight, complicating Marty’s plans to return to 1985. On September 5, Clara and Doc attended the Hill Valley Festival, where they spent the evening stargazing through her telescope. They discovered they shared a love for Jules Verne's novels. As their bond grew, Doc realized he needed to say goodbye and return to the future. He tried to explain where he was going, but Clara didn’t believe him and slapped him across the face.
Heartbroken, Clara decided to leave Hill Valley for San Francisco on September 7. However, while on the train, she overheard a man who had spent the night with Doc at the Palace Saloon. Realizing Doc had been truthful, she stopped the train and raced back to town. Clara saw the time machine demonstration, confirming Doc's story, and then rode a horse to catch up with him and Marty, who had commandeered a train to push the DeLorean to 88 mph. Clara followed the detached passenger cars of the train, reaching it just as the first “presto” log exploded. She was thrown into the air but landed safely on the ladder.
Clara climbed up the ladder and tried to get Doc’s attention, but he couldn't hear her over the train’s noise. After another explosion, Clara crawled into the train’s cab and blew the whistle, alerting Doc and Marty to her presence. She confessed her love for Doc, leading to a discussion where Marty informed Doc they were past the “point of no return.” Doc then decided to take Clara with them to the future.
Doc encouraged Clara to climb out of the cab, and, despite her hesitation, she carefully stepped onto the precarious ledge. As they neared each other, the final “presto” log exploded, causing Clara to slip. Her fall was broken when her dress caught on part of the train, but as the dress began to tear, Marty quickly sent Doc his hoverboard. Doc grabbed Clara just as the dress ripped completely, and they hovered off into the distance, leaving Marty behind to return to 1985 alone.
Since the DeLorean had been destroyed by a train in 1985 and Doc couldn’t return, he built a new time machine into a steam train, as neither he nor Clara belonged in 1885. They married on December 15, 1885, in a small ceremony. Because everyone believed “Clint Eastwood” (Marty’s alias in 1885) had perished in the ravine, it was renamed Eastwood Ravine instead of Clayton Ravine.
Over the next decade, Doc and Clara raised their family while continuing to work on the train. Clara gave birth to their son Jules in 1886, followed by Verne in 1888. Once the time machine was complete, the Brown family left the 1890s, traveling to the future where the train was modified with a hover conversion. They later visited 1985 to see Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer before departing for times unknown.
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