American History (Somehow)
How does this always happen? In anticipation of tonight’s screening of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, where Werner Herzog and the lead actor Michael Shannon will speak, I came across - by the grace of wikipedia’s tax-deductible omniscience - the origin of Mohammed Ali’s birth name, Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. Bear with me.
Certainly, the “Jr.” implies a forerunner, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., whom Ali said of his dad as being “the fanciest dancer in Louisville” (a fact that may need confirmation from a certain distinguished Louisvillian expatriate). But the short answer, Cassius Marcellus Clay (1810-1903), was a “paradox”, a 19th century southern aristocrat/emancipationist. Friend also to that other great Kentuckian, Abraham Lincoln. As the story goes, Mohammed Ali’s great-grandfather grew up on Clay’s property and was so given the name that then passed down multiple generations. (Additional facts: “Cassius” is of Latin origin. Possibly meaning “empty” or “hollow.” Also an old Roman family clan name. Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar depicts Caius Cassius as politically ruthless. In Dante, and because of his role in assassinating Caesar, he’s cud, worthy of one of the three mouths of Satan. As of 2008, the excellent babynamesworld ranked Cassius as the 945th most/least popular name for a boy.)
How did I get here? 1. Back to Michael Shannon. I read this year-old profile and learned that because of the man’s intensity, Kathy Bates, once Annie Wilkes for crissakes, said that she had never been “so personally wounded by an actor’s reading” while working with him. This occurred while filming Revolutionary Road, a film Shannon was nominated for Best Supporting Actor last year.
Further in the profile I find the predecessors that might make up the 6’ 4” and volatile Shannon: DiCaprio and Richard Kiel. Richard Kiel? That’s right, Jaws, from Moonraker! And what’s he been up to since the late 70’s (excluding Happy Gilmore)? He recently co-authored Kentucky Lion a biography on the abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay.
