Nicholas Ray
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- August 7, 1911
- Died
- June 16, 1979
- Birthplace
- Galesville, Wisconsin, USA
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."
Filmography
Films to Die For 2025
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Wilder Demons #2
Wilder Demons #2 2024
Writer
Don't Expect Too Much 2011
as Himself
Rebel Without a Cause: Defiant Innocents 2005
as Self (uncredited)
James Dean: A Portrait 1995
as Self (archive footage)
Vanity Fair: Jeanette Starion the Pet of the Year 1990
Actor
Lightning Over Water 1980
as Self, Director, Writer
- Nicholas Ray: Especially for Pierre
Nicholas Ray: Especially for Pierre 1979
Actor
Hair 1979
as The General
- Marco
Marco 1978
Director
The American Friend 1977
as Andrew Pogash Derwatt
Johnny, weil Du Geburtstag hast 1977
as Self
Profile of Nicholas Ray 1977
as Self
James Dean: The First American Teenager 1975
as Self
I'm a Stranger Here Myself 1975
as Self
Wet Dreams 1974
Director
- The Janitor
The Janitor 1974
Director
Horizons 1973
Actor
We Can't Go Home Again 1973
as Nick Ray, Writer, Director
Made in U.S.A 1967
Thanks
Circus World 1964
Story
55 Days at Peking 1963
as US Minister (uncredited), Director
King of Kings 1961
Director
The Savage Innocents 1960
Director, Screenplay
Party Girl 1958
Director
Wind Across the Everglades 1958
Director
Bitter Victory 1957
Director, Screenplay
The True Story of Jesse James 1957
Director
Bigger Than Life 1956
Director, Additional Writing
Hot Blood 1956
Director
Rebel Without a Cause 1955
as Man in Last Shot (uncredited), Director, Story
Run for Cover 1955
Director
Johnny Guitar 1954
Director, Writer, Producer
Androcles and the Lion 1952
Co-Director
The Lusty Men 1952
Director
Macao 1952
Co-Director
On Dangerous Ground 1951
Adaptation, Director
Flying Leathernecks 1951
Director
Born to Be Bad 1950
Director
In a Lonely Place 1950
Director
They Live by Night 1949
Director, Adaptation
Roseanna McCoy 1949
Co-Director
Knock on Any Door 1949
Director
A Woman's Secret 1949
Director
Swing Parade of 1946 1946
Writer
Tuesday in November 1945
Assistant Director
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1945
as Bakery Clerk (uncredited), Dialogue
Credits from TMDB.