Clara Clayton

Clara Clayton is a fictional character, one of the lead characters in the Back to the Future motion picture trilogy, played in Back to the Future Part III and voiced in the by Mary Steenburgen.

Pre-Back to the Future Part III

When Clara was 11 she caught diphtheria and was quarantined for three months, so her father bought her a telescope and put it next to her bed so she could see everything out the window. This ignited a love of science and astronomy that would stay with her for the rest of her life.

Related Topics:
Diphtheria - Quarantine - Telescope - Science - Astronomy

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Little is known about her life between 1861 and 1885, except she became a schoolteacher and has been doing the job for some years before 1885. When she heard that the position of the new schoolteacher in Hill Valley was available, she decided to leave New Jersey behind and head out West to start a new life in California (she may have been influenced by her parents, who met on the Oregon Trail according to the animated series, although this detail is not taken as canon by many fans).

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A draft script (set in 1888 rather than 1885) said that Clara was a widow, but this is not applicable to the finished film.

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