Nicholas Ray
Biography
Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle; 7 August 1911 – 16 June 1979) was an American film director best known for the films Rebel Without a Cause and Johnny Guitar. Described by the Harvard Film Archive as "Hollywood's last romantic" and "one of postwar American cinema’s supremely gifted and ultimately tragic filmmakers," Ray was considered an iconoclastic auteur director who often clashed with the Hollywood studio system of the time, but would prove highly influential to future generations of filmmakers. His best-known work is the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean. He is appreciated for many narrative features produced between 1947 and 1963, including They Live By Night (1948), In A Lonely Place (1950), Johnny Guitar (1954), Bigger Than Life (1956), and King of Kings (1961), as well as an experimental work produced throughout the 1970s titled We Can't Go Home Again, which was unfinished at the time of Ray's death. During his lifetime, Ray was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Rebel Without a Cause, twice for the Golden Lion, for Bigger Than Life (1956) and Bitter Victory (1957), and a Palme d'Or for The Savage Innocents (1960). Three of his films were ranked by Cahiers du Cinéma in their Annual Top 10 Lists. Ray's compositions within the CinemaScope frame and use of color are particularly well regarded and he was an important influence on the French New Wave, with Jean-Luc Godard famously writing in a review of Bitter Victory, "... there is cinema. And the cinema is Nicholas Ray."
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (46)
Films to Die For
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2025
Wilder Demons #2
Writer (Writing)
2024
Don't Expect Too Much
as Himself
2011
Rebel Without a Cause: Defiant Innocents
as Himself (uncredited)
2005
James Dean: A Portrait
as Self (archive footage)
1995
Vanity Fair: Jeanette Starion the Pet of the Year
1990
Lightning Over Water
as Self
1980
Nicholas Ray: Especially for Pierre
1979
Hair
as The General
1979
Marco
Director (Directing)
1978
The American Friend
as Derwatt
1977
Profile of Nicholas Ray
as Self
1977
James Dean: The First American Teenager
as Self
1975
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
as Self
1975
Wet Dreams
Director (Directing)
1974
The Janitor
Director (Directing)
1974
Horizons
1973
We Can't Go Home Again
as Nick Ray
1973
Made in U.S.A
Thanks (Crew)
1967
Circus World
Story (Writing)
1964
55 Days at Peking
as US Minister (uncredited)
1963
King of Kings
Director (Directing)
1961
The Savage Innocents
Director (Directing)
1960
Party Girl
Director (Directing)
1958
Wind Across the Everglades
Director (Directing)
1958
Bitter Victory
Director (Directing)
1957
The True Story of Jesse James
Director (Directing)
1957
Bigger Than Life
Director (Directing)
1956
Hot Blood
Director (Directing)
1956
Rebel Without a Cause
as Man in Last Shot (uncredited)
1955
Run for Cover
Director (Directing)
1955
Johnny Guitar
Director (Directing)
1954
Androcles and the Lion
Co-Director (Directing)
1952
The Lusty Men
Director (Directing)
1952
Macao
Co-Director (Directing)
1952
On Dangerous Ground
Adaptation (Writing)
1951
Flying Leathernecks
Director (Directing)
1951
Born to Be Bad
Director (Directing)
1950
In a Lonely Place
Director (Directing)
1950
They Live by Night
Director (Directing)
1949
Roseanna McCoy
Co-Director (Directing)
1949
Knock on Any Door
Director (Directing)
1949
A Woman's Secret
Director (Directing)
1949
Swing Parade of 1946
Writer (Writing)
1946
Tuesday in November
Assistant Director (Directing)
1945
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
as Bakery Clerk (uncredited)
1945
