Clara Clayton is a fictional character, the wife of Doc Brown in the Back to the Future film trilogy. She is played by Mary Steenburgen.

Clara was born in the 1850s in New Jersey. When she was 11 she caught diphtheria and was quarantined for 3 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.

In 1885 she moved out to Hill Valley, California, taking up a job as a schoolteacher. But as no-one had come to pick her up, she rented a horse and cart. However the horses were spooked by a snake and she fell into Shonash Ravine, which was renamed Clayton Ravine in her memory.

History, however, was changed after Emmett Brown arrived in 1885 in his time machine and accidentally saved her life. It was love at first sight, which caused problems for Emmett's friend Marty McFly, who was anxious to get back to 1985. Doc and Clara attended the Hill Valley festival on September 5th 1885 and spent the night watching the stars through her telescope. Doc soon realised that he had to say goodbye to Clara and go back to the future. He tried telling her where he was going but she didn't believe him and slapped him. However, next morning, September 7th, she discovered the truth and ran to catch up with Doc and Marty, who had "borrowed" a train to push their De Lorean time machine up to 88mph. Clara risked her life, but Doc managed to save her. The two were stranded in 1885 they couldn't get to Marty and the DeLorean in time, but Doc started working on a new time machine built into a steam train. Doc and Clara married and now have two sons, Jules and Verne, named after their favourite author Jules Verne. The family used Doc's steam-powered time machine to visit Marty and his girlfriend in 1985, but returned to the 19th century.