Packer was originally intended to be his father's heir before a falling-out in 1972 resulted in Kerry inheriting the family business upon Frank's death in 1974.
In 1976, Packer relocated to the United States, initially living in Los Angeles before moving to Santa Barbara, California.
[2] Clyde's father was Sir Frank Packer (1906–1974), a media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network.
[2] In the early 1950s, instead of attending university as he wished, Clyde Packer heeded his father's directive "You go to work for me ... You'll learn far more in the school of hard knocks".
[7][8] Packer allowed Horne to hire various contributors including Peter Coleman, Michael Baume, Bruce Beresford, Robert Hughes, Barry Humphries, and James McAuley.
[8] In 1960, ACP was involved in a commercial rivalry with Rupert Murdoch's News Limited, over interests in print media in Sydney.
[1] ACP had made an offer to buy Anglican Press when it was placed in receivership so that they could publish suburban newspapers in opposition to Murdoch's recent acquisitions.
[1][8] In June 1960 the rivalry between the two groups turned into a physical brawl where men hired by Murdoch fought with Packer, Kerry and their associates over the control of Anglican Press building.
[1] The Murdoch group had a photographer take evidence of the fracas and their afternoon newspaper, The Daily Mirror, ran a front-page article headlined "Knight's Sons in City Brawl" with a photo of Packer ejecting the manager of Anglican Press, John Willis, into the street.
[3] During that year, two ACP publications Weekend and The Australian Woman's Mirror were merged to form Everybody's with Horne editing and Packer as its manager.
Into his late thirties, Clyde was still treated like a stupid, disobedient little boy, until he could take no more and rebelled against such tyranny, splitting clearly and completely with his father".
[2][9] During early 1974 he worked with New South Wales Premier, Robert Askin, to develop a series of ads run by John Singleton's agency against the incumbent Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, and his Australian Labor Party in the lead up to the federal election in May.
[24] After Clyde Packer's resignation from the family's media interests in 1972, he became briefly involved in the counter-culture, famously donning a kaftan and claiming that it was "better than dieting".
[28] In 1984, Packer released a book, No Return Ticket, in which he interviewed nine fellow Australian expatriates: Robert Hughes, Gordon Chater, Graham Fraser, Dame Judith Anderson, James Wolfensohn, Germaine Greer, Maxwell Newton, Zoe Caldwell, and Sumner Locke Elliott.
[30] Also during 1984, the Costigan Commission issued a draft report into its investigation into the Painters and Dockers Union which implicated a prominent businessman, codenamed the "Goanna", in tax evasion and organised crime activities.
[31] In September that year, news reports published leaked case summaries and Kerry outed himself as the "Goanna" but denied all allegations.
[3][34] Angela was the elder daughter of Dr. Rex Money, a Macquarie Street specialist and neurosurgeon, and Dorothy "Noppy" née Wilkinson.
[3][25] A memorial service for him was held in Sydney on 16 May 2001, including a eulogy, "Dear Clyde", written by Barry Humphries and read by Packer's son, Francis.
[10] In the TV mini-series, Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War (September 2013), Clyde Packer was portrayed by Alexander England.