[1][2] Clay was born in Streatham, London on 18 September 1946, the son of a professional soldier in the British Army's Royal Engineers.

Blakemore also directed him in the part of Young Inna in Arturo Ui at Nottingham Playhouse, where Clay acted several roles in Jonathan Miller's production of King Lear.

[5] He appeared in In This House of Brede (1975) with Diana Rigg and played Alan in the 1976 version of The Picture of Dorian Gray, alongside Peter Firth.

He appeared in Just Jaeckin's film version of D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981), playing Mellors, and in Agatha Christie's Evil Under the Sun (1982), the latter reuniting him with Diana Rigg, his co-star in The Misanthrope.

[3] Director of Evil Guy Hamilton said "I was looking for someone like Stewart Granger or Michael Rennie - handsome, dashing, physical, romantic.

"[7] For TV Clay was in The Agatha Christie Hour (1982), in an adaptation of "In a Glass Darkly" then Russian Night... 1941 (1983), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)[8] and The Last Days of Pompeii (1984).

[10] Clay had support parts in Sleeping Beauty (1987), Lionheart (1987) and Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987).

Later appearances included The New Adventures of Robin Hood, Zorro, Kavanagh QC, Shine on Harvey Moon, The Odyssey, Shanghai 1937, Bugs, Highlander, Psychos and playing Lord Leo in the 1998 TV miniseries Merlin starring Sam Neill.