This story has been updated from its original 2007 publication.

For decades, Muhammad Ali's life has been the subject of documentaries, features and books. If you're looking for more insight on the late boxer, here are some of the most notable:

Muhammad Ali: The Greatest (1974) 

This documentary is an interesting, unvarnished look at Ali during his first career and his exile, although the lack of narration may frustrate some viewers less familiar with Ali. Particularly fascinating is seeing how Ali affected the rising consciousness of the young African-Americans interviewed in the film. Just don't confuse this with the feature film of the same name starring Ali himself three years later. 

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The Greatest (1977) 

Ali played himself in a whitewashed version of his story (Ernest Borgnine plays his trainer Angelo Dundee). It's a bit odd watching a 34-year-old Ali play his younger self, but strictly a curio for the devoted fan. The centrepiece song for the film is The Greatest Love of All, performed by George Benson and a massive hit a decade later for Whitney Houston.

When We Were Kings (1996) 

Leon Gast's Oscar-winning doc of Ali and George Foreman's "Rumble in the Jungle" gained more poignancy by sitting on the shelf for a couple of decades. You are absolutely transported to 1974 Zaire for the strange pageantry of the promotion, with amusing context provided by Norman Mailer and George Plimpton. The only quibble is that George Foreman, whose second-act transformation is one of the most dramatic of any American public figure in modern times, is a relatively minor player.  

The late Muhammad Ali jokes with actor Will Smith in 2001 as they arrived for the premiere of Smith's new film Ali in Hollywood. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)

Ali (2001) 

This is the film that younger generations might think of first when it comes to Ali, starring Will Smith as the formidable boxer. The movie gets all the details right, and Smith got an Oscar nomination for his powerful role. But if you're only going to choose one film to watch, this one isn't ideal. Despite an electric early sequence set to the music of Ali's friend Sam Cooke, director Michael Mann somehow managed to make a movie about Ali without enough soul.

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The Last Round (2003)

In an age where a heavyweight title fight can't even get in the sports pages, this great National Film Board production on the uproar surrounding the 1966 Ali-George Chuvalo bout at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto astounds for showing how Ali provoked a reaction at every turn. Chased out of the U.S. due to his controversial nature and Vietnam War stance, Ali saw somewhat of a safe haven in Canada – though Conn Smythe would resign from the MLG board in protest of the bout.

March 29, 1966: George Chuvalo fights Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. (AP)

Muhammad and Larry (2009)

Part of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series, this takes a look at Ali trying to win back the heavyweight title in 1980 against former sparring partner Larry Holmes. The segments with old sportswriters reminiscing are a bit cringe-worthy, but the vérité footage of the two men in their training camps is up to the standard previously set by co-director Albert Maysles in his critically hailed Grey Gardens and Salesman docs.

The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013)

Along with When We Were Kings, essential viewing. Given the widespread love for Ali in recent decades, it's easy to forget how divisive he was. This documentary provides that context, focusing specifically on his years in the wilderness after he refused induction into the military and was stripped of his boxing title. It includes interviews beyond the usual suspects, such as Ali's first wife, Khalilah, Louis Farrakhan and the lone living member of the all-white Louisville management syndicate that launched the fighter's pro career.

Ali inspired Rocky and others

Did you think Sylvester Stallone created Apollo Creed out of whole cloth? Sylvester Stallone wrote the original Rocky film after watching Ali's title defence against New Jersey journeyman Chuck Wepner in 1975.

Sylvester Stallone alongside Michael B. Jordan, star of the film Creed, a spinoff of the popular Rocky franchise which was initially influenced by one of Ali's fights. (Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros. Pictures/Associated Press)

Requiem for a Heavyweight, released in 1962, is still one of the greatest films ever made about the rough and tumble business of boxing. It briefly features Ali, then Cassius Clay, as the young tiger pummelling Mountain Rivera, a memorable portrayal by Anthony Quinn of a washed-up fighter handled by a morally challenged manager, Jackie Gleason.

The Ali bookshelf

A good portion of all books written about boxing are about Ali, but there's a lot of chaff. Here are some entertaining and thought-provoking reads from recent years to seek out online or in print at the bookstore or library.

Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times by Thomas Hauser, 1992 (Simon & Schuster)

This is the place to start for the uninitiated. Hauser provides analysis and context but most of the book unfolds in oral history form with comments from Ali and just about everyone who crossed his path. That includes former family to former opponents as well as the likes of Jesse Jackson and Bob Dylan. And it doesn't shy away from some of Ali's flaws and faults.  

King of the World by David Remnick, 1998 (Vintage)

This is essential reading. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New Yorker editor spins a brilliant tale of the early 1960s heavyweight division and the intertwining paths of the three champions who would hold the belt within an 18-month span: Ali, Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston, all wildly different and compelling personalities.

The Muhammad Ali Reader, ed. Gerald Early, 1998 (HarperCollins Canada)

This is a combination of reflections on Ali through the decades from dozens, including Hunter S. Thompson, Jackie Robinson, A. Bartlett Giamatti. Ali himself also expounds on marital and race relations in a 1975 Playboy interview which would raise a firestorm in today's social media outrage climate.

The Ghosts of Manila: The Fateful Blood Feud Between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier by Mark Kram, 2001 (Harper Perennial)

A cranky, controversial book by the late Sports Illustrated writer, who sought to redress what he felt was a revisionism and hagiography that has arisen regarding Ali's life. A perfectly fair approach, though Kram too often elevates Frazier – not always a prince himself – at Ali's expense. Still, it provides more food for thought (e.g., What makes a hero?) than the many fawning Ali books. Also, the writer was there for much of the madness, so there are details here not found elsewhere.  

Facing Ali by Stephen Brunt, 2003 (Vintage Canada)

Some CanCon and a bit more levity than the scholarly seriousness with which Ali is often treated, Brunt spans the globe to talk to the men of very different backgrounds who share the similarity of how being a part of the Ali circus as being his opponent became a life-transforming event.

Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship by Dave Kindred, 2007 (Free Press)

The tale of the sympathetic yet transactional relationship that dominated sports television in the 1960s and the 1970s: Ali and the unlikeliest of sportscasters, Howard Cosell, an untelegenic former lawyer with a loved-or-loathed presence. How credible is the author? When Cosell expressed his disgust with pro boxing and turned his back on the sport in 1982, it was Kindred with the scoop.

Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith, 2016 (Basic Books)

Just released in February, it is strictly for those who want to take a deep dive into his path from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali and learn more about Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. There is a lot to learn from it, indeed, though the tone can at times be off-putting — the authors seem a little too insistent on correcting what they see as previous misinterpretations in print of the tug-of-war for Ali's influence between Malcolm and Elijah.

Muhammad Ali, the magnificent heavyweight champion whose fast fists and irrepressible personality transcended sports and captivated the world, has died. He was 74.

Ali suffered for years from Parkinson's disease, which ravaged his body but could never dim his larger-than-life presence. A towering figure in his prime, he still travelled and made appearances in his later years despite being muted by the thousands of hits he took during his remarkable career.

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He was transported to the Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center near Phoenix, Arizona for respiratory problems earlier this week, and his family gathered around him. He died Friday night, according to a statement from the family.

Former boxing champion Muhammad Ali gestures before a 1974 news conference in Kinshasa. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Ali was a giant of his time — a furious and loud fighter whose influence was felt far beyond the ring. He engaged in some of the world's most iconic fights even though his career was interrupted for more than three years when he refused to be drafted for military service during the Vietnam War.

He beat the invincible Sonny Liston, fought a string of thrilling fights with Joe Frazier and stopped George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire. But he paid a terrible price for the estimated 29,000 punches he took to his head during a career that made him perhaps the most recognized person on earth.

"I am the greatest," Ali thundered again and again.

Muhammad Ali's youngest daughter, Laila Ali, posted this photo on Facebook on June 2. She followed in her father's footsteps and became a professional boxer, although she is now retired from competing. (Facebook)

Few would disagree.

Despite his debilitating illness, he travelled the world to rapturous receptions even as the once-bellowing voice was reduced to a whisper and he was left to communicate with a wink or a weak smile.

Revered — and reviled — by millions, Ali cut quite a figure in his prime, indeed, complete with an entourage nearly as colourful as he was urging him to "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." He finished with a record of 56-5 with 37 knockouts and was the first man to win heavyweight titles three times.

The Dalai Lama, right, greets former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali as Elaine Irwin-Mellencamp, the wife of singer John Mellencamp, left, stands nearby during a dedication ceremony for the Chamtse Temple on Sept. 7, 2003 in Bloominton, Indiana. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

British-born boxer Amir Khan paid tribute to Ali in a video message from his family's native Rawalpindi in Pakistan.

"Muhammad Ali was my hero. I'm so happy that I got to meet the guy," said Khan, who admired every aspect of Ali's game: his unique skillset, his confidence and his Islamic faith.

"He was one of the only fighters who predicted what round he was going to win and then knock his opponent out in that round. That's something you hardly ever see."

"He used to beat opponents with his mouth before he ever got into the boxing ring. He would win the fight before the fight even happened."

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Khan, himself a Muslim, said Ali showed courage for converting to Islam in 1960s America. "What he believed in, he did."

In a statement released Saturday, U.S. President Barack Obama quoted the boxing legend:

"I am America," he once declared. "'I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me, black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.'"

'Fought for us,' says Obama

"That's the Ali I came to know as I came of age, not just as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for what was right. A man who fought for us.  He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn't. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail.  But Ali stood his ground.  And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today."

Boxing great Muhammad Ali shows his fists as he stands in the ring following his daughter Laila's fight in Washington on June 11, 2005. Laila Ali won the fight against Erin Toughill to stay undefeated. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters)

"He wasn't perfect, of course," Obama said. "For all his magic in the ring, he could be careless with his words, and full of contradictions as his faith evolved. But his wonderful, infectious, even innocent spirit ultimately won him more fans than foes, maybe because in him, we hoped to see something of ourselves.

"Later, as his physical powers ebbed, he became an even more powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world. We saw a man who said he was so mean he'd make medicine sick reveal a soft spot, visiting children with illness and disability around the world, telling them they, too, could become the greatest. We watched a hero light a torch, and fight his greatest fight of all on the world stage once again; a battle against the disease that ravaged his body, but couldn't take the spark from his eyes."

'A life so big and bold'

In a ceremony on Saturday, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, the boxer's birthplace, spoke of how Ali he lit the Olympic torch to open the Summer Olympics, 12 years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Muhammad Ali, right, is greeted by former boxing opponent and Canadian champ George Chuvalo as boxer Evander Holyfield looks on during a Parkinson's disease fundraiser held at halftime of the Toronto Argonauts game against the Ottawa Renegades in Toronto on Oct. 20, 2002. (Kevin Frayer/Canadian Press)

"We all remember in 1996 when the champ held that burning torch in his trembling hands and lit that flame in Atlanta," said Greg Fischer, who watched as an honour guard presided over a flag-lowering ceremony at Metro Hall.

"Muhammad Ali lived a life so big and bold, it's hard to believe that any one man could do everything he did, could be all the things that he became in the course of just one lifetime," Fischer said at the start of his address.

"This man, this champion, ended his 74 years yesterday as A United Nations Messenger of Peace; a Humanitarian and champion athlete who earned Amnesty International's Lifetime Achievement Award; the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Century," he said.

Ali fought in three different decades, finished with a record of 56-5 with 37 knockouts and was the first man to win heavyweight titles three times.

He whipped the fearsome Sonny Liston twice, toppled the mighty George Foreman with the rope-a-dope in Zaire, and nearly fought to the death with Joe Frazier in the Philippines. Through it all, he was trailed by a colorful entourage who merely added to his growing legend.

Ali reacts while speaking at a news conference in London in these photos from Nov. 29, 1974. (Associated Press)

"Rumble, young man, rumble," cornerman Bundini Brown would yell to him.

And rumble Ali did. He fought anyone who meant anything and made millions of dollars with his lightning-quick jab. His fights were so memorable that they had names — "Rumble in the Jungle" and "Thrilla in Manila."

But it was as much his antics — and his mouth — outside the ring that transformed the man born Cassius Clay into a household name as Muhammad Ali.

"I am the greatest," Ali thundered again and again.

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Fifty years ago last March, Canadian George Chuvalo lost to Ali during a fight in 1966 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, but pushed Ali to 15 rounds for the first time.

Vietnam war objector

Ali spurned white America when he joined the Black Muslims and changed his name. He defied the draft at the height of the Vietnam war — "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong" — and lost 3 1/2 years from the prime of his career. He entertained world leaders, once telling Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos: "I saw your wife. You're not as dumb as you look."

He later embarked on a second career as a missionary for Islam.

"Boxing was my field mission, the first part of my life," he said in 1990, adding with typical braggadocio, "I will be the greatest evangelist ever."

Faltering speech in later years

Ali couldn't fulfil that goal because Parkinson's robbed him of his speech. It took such a toll on his body that the sight of him in his later years -- trembling, his face frozen, the man who invented the Ali Shuffle now barely able to walk -- shocked and saddened those who remembered him in his prime.

Soccer star David Beckham and boxing legend Muhammad Ali pose for a photo during the Beyond Sport Summit in London on July 24, 2012. (John Marsh/Reuters)

"People naturally are going to be sad to see the effects of his disease," Hana, one of his daughters, said, when he turned 65. "But if they could really see him in the calm of his everyday life, they would not be sorry for him. He's at complete peace, and he's here learning a greater lesson."

The quiet of Ali's later life was in contrast to the roar of a career that had breathtaking highs as well as terrible lows. He exploded on the public scene with a series of nationally televised fights that gave the public an exciting new champion, and he entertained millions as he sparred verbally with the likes of bombastic sportscaster Howard Cosell.

Ali once calculated he had taken 29,000 punches to the head and made $57 million in his pro career, but the effect of the punches lingered long after most of the money was gone. That didn't stop him from travelling tirelessly to promote Islam, meet with world leaders and champion legislation dubbed the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. While slowed in recent years, he still managed to make numerous appearances, including a trip to the 2012 London Olympics.

Muhammad Ali, left, and actor Michael J. Fox gesture before the start of a Senate subcommittee on Labour, Health, Human Services and Education hearing on Parkinson's Disease on May 22, 2002 in Washington, D.C. (Stephan Jaffe/AFP/Getty Images)

Despised by some for his outspoken beliefs and refusal to serve in the U.S. Army in the 1960s, an aging Ali became a poignant figure whose mere presence at a sporting event would draw long standing ovations.

With his hands trembling so uncontrollably that the world held its breath, he lit the Olympic torch for the 1996 Atlanta Games in a performance as riveting as some of his fights.

A few years after that, he sat mute in a committee room in Washington, his mere presence enough to convince lawmakers to pass the boxing reform bill that bore his name.

Ali the humanitarian

Members of his inner circle weren't surprised. They had long known Ali as a humanitarian who once wouldn't think twice about getting in his car and driving hours to visit a terminally ill child. They saw him as a man who seemed to like everyone he met — even his archrival Frazier.

"I consider myself one of the luckiest guys in the world just to call him my friend," former business manager Gene Kilroy said. "If I was to die today and go to heaven it would be a step down. My heaven was being with Ali."

One of his biggest opponents would later become a big fan, too. On the eve of the 35th anniversary of their "Rumble in the Jungle," Foreman paid tribute to the man who so famously stopped him in the eighth round of their 1974 heavyweight title fight, the first ever held in Africa.

"I don't call him the best boxer of all time, but he's the greatest human being I ever met," Foreman said. "To this day he's the most exciting person I ever met in my life."

Stolen bicycle inspired boxing start

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay on Jan. 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky, Ali began boxing at age 12 after his new bicycle was stolen and he vowed to policeman Joe Martin that he would "whup" the person who took it.

He was only 89 pounds at the time, but Martin began training him at his boxing gym, the beginning of a six-year amateur career that ended with the light heavyweight Olympic gold medal in 1960.

George Chuvalo, left, stands with Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) at weigh-in on March 29, 1966 for a fight at Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens. Chuvalo weighed 216 pounds and Clay, 214.5 pounds. (Associated Press)

Ali had already encountered racism. On boxing trips, he and his amateur teammates would have to stay in the car while Martin bought them hamburgers. When he returned to Louisville with his gold medal, the Chamber of Commerce presented him a citation but said it didn't have time to co-sponsor a dinner.

In his autobiography, The Greatest, Ali wrote that he tossed the medal into the Ohio River after a fight with a white motorcycle gang, which started when he and a friend were refused service at a Louisville restaurant.

The story may be apocryphal, and Ali later told friends he simply misplaced the medal. Regardless, he had made his point.

After he beat Liston to win the heavyweight title in 1964, Ali shocked the boxing world by announcing he was a member of the Black Muslims -- the Nation of Islam -- and was rejecting his "slave name."

Converted to Islam in 1967

As a Baptist youth he spent much of his time outside the ring reading the Bible. From now on, he would be known as Muhammad Ali and his book of choice would be the Qur'an.

Rahaman Ali, older brother of Muhammad Ali, looks out over the backyard of their childhood home in Louisville, Kentucky on May 15, 2015. The home's exterior has since been restored to its original pastel pink. (Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press)

Ali's affiliation with the Nation of Islam outraged and disturbed many white Americans, but it was his refusal to be inducted into the Army that angered them most.

That happened on April 28, 1967, a month after he knocked out Zora Folley in the seventh round at Madison Square Garden in New York for his eighth title defence.

He was convicted of draft evasion, stripped of his title and banned from boxing.

Moroccan King Hassan II decorates Muhammad Ali in a ceremony in the Royal Palace in Rabat on Jan. 15, 1998. The king invited Ali to Morocco for a four-day visit during the holy month of Ramadan. (Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images)

Ali appealed the conviction on grounds he was a Muslim minister. He married 17-year-old Belinda Boyd, the second of his four wives, a month after his conviction, and had four children with her. He had two more with his third wife, Veronica Porsche, and he and his fourth wife, Lonnie Williams, adopted a son.

During his banishment, Ali spoke at colleges and briefly appeared in a Broadway musical called Big Time Buck White. Still facing a prison term, he was allowed to resume boxing three years later, and he came back to stop Jerry Quarry in three rounds on Oct. 26, 1970, in Atlanta despite efforts by Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox to block the bout.

'Fight of the Century'

He was still facing a possible prison sentence when he fought Frazier for the first time on March 8, 1971, in what was labelled "The Fight of the Century."

A few months later the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction on an 8-0 vote.

Muhammad Ali, right, is shown on March 1, 1964 with civil rights activist Malcolm X outside the Trans-Lux Newsreel Theater in New York City, after watching a screening of films on Ali's title fight with Sonny Liston in Miami. (Associated Press)

"I've done my celebrating already," Ali said after being informed of the decision. "I said a prayer to Allah."

Many in boxing believe Ali was never the same fighter after his lengthy layoff, even though he won the heavyweight championship two more times and fought for another decade.

Perhaps his most memorable fight was the "Rumble in the Jungle," when he upset a brooding Foreman to become heavyweight champion once again at age 32.

Many worried that Ali could be seriously hurt by the powerful Foreman, who had knocked Frazier down six times in a second round TKO.

But while his peak fighting days may have been over, he was still in fine form verbally. He promoted the fight relentlessly, as only he could.

"You think the world was shocked when Nixon resigned," he said. "Wait till I whup George Foreman's behind."

Muhammad Ali throws a right at Joe Frazier in the 13th round in their title bout in Manila on Oct. 1, 1975. Frazier lost to Ali by TKO in the 14th round. (Associated Press)

Ali won over a country before he won the fight, mingling with people as he trained and displaying the kind of playful charm the rest of the world had already seen. On the plane into the former Congo he asked what the citizens of Zaire disliked most. He was told it was Belgians because they had once colonized the country.

"George Foreman is a Belgian," Ali cried out to the huge crowd that greeted him at the airport. By the time the fight finally went off in the early morning hours of Oct. 30, 1974, Zaire was his.

"Ali booma-ya (Ali kill him)," many of the 60,000 fans screamed as the fight began in Kinshasa.

Ali pulled out a huge upset to win the heavyweight title for a second time, allowing Foreman to punch himself out. He used what he would later call the "rope-a-dope" strategy -- something even trainer Angelo Dundee knew nothing about.

Finally, he knocked out an exhausted Foreman in the eighth round, touching off wild celebrations among his African fans.

"I told you I was the greatest," Ali said.

That might have been argued by followers of Joe Louis or Rocky Marciano or Sugar Ray Robinson, but there was no doubt that Ali was just what boxing needed in the early 1960s.

He spouted poetry and brash predictions. After the sullen and frightening Liston, he was a fresh and entertaining face in a sport that struggled for respectability.

At the weigh-in before his Feb. 25, 1964, fight with Liston, Ali carried on so much that some observers thought he was scared stiff and suggested the fight in Miami Beach be called off.

"The crowd did not dream when they lay down their money that they would see a total eclipse of the Sonny," Ali said.

Name change after Sonny Liston fight

Ali went on to punch Liston's face lumpy and became champion for the first time when Liston quit on his stool after the sixth round.

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," became Ali's rallying cry.

His talent for talking earned him the nickname "The Louisville Lip," but he had a new name of his own in mind: Muhammad Ali, which he adopted shortly after the Liston fight.

"I don't have to be what you want me to be," he told reporters the morning after beating Liston. "I'm free to be who I want."

Frazier stuck with name Cassius Clay

Frazier refused to call Ali by his new name, insisting he was still Cassius Clay. So did Ernie Terrell in their Feb. 6, 1967, fight, a mistake he would come to regret through 15 long rounds.

"What's my name?" Ali demanded as he repeatedly punched Terrell in the face. "What's my name?"

By the time Ali was able to return to the ring following his forced layoff, he was bigger than ever. Soon he was in the ring for his first of three epic fights against Frazier, with each fighter guaranteed $2.5 million.

Before the fight, Ali called Frazier an "Uncle Tom" and said he was "too ugly to be the champ." His gamesmanship could have a cruel edge, especially when it was directed toward Frazier.

In the first fight, though, Frazier had the upper hand. He relentlessly wore Ali down, flooring him with a crushing left hook in the 15th round and winning a decision.

It was the first defeat for Ali, but the boxing world had not seen the last of him and Frazier in the ring. Ali won a second fight, and then came the "Thrilla in Manila" on Oct. 1, 1975, in the Philippines, a brutal bout that Ali said afterward was "the closest thing to dying" he had experienced.

Ali won that third fight but took a terrific beating from the relentless Frazier before trainer Eddie Futch kept Frazier from answering the bell for the 15th round.

"They told me Joe Frazier was through," Ali told Frazier at one point during the fight.

"They lied," Frazier said, before hitting Ali with a left hook.

The fight -- which most in boxing agree was Ali's last great performance -- was part of a 16-month period on the mid-1970s when Ali took his show on the road, fighting Foreman in Zaire, Frazier in the Philippines, Joe Bugner in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Jean Pierre Coopman in Puerto Rico.