New Biography of Director Nicholas Ray

Mitchum and Nicholas Ray on the set of 'The Lusty Men.'

Director Nicholas Ray made several 1950s classics, including Rebel Without a Cause, the Humphrey Bogart film noir In a Lonely Place, and one of Mitchum's finest films, The Lusty Men. But his later career stalled, despite his cooperation with HUAC during the Red Scare.

A new biography, 'Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director' by Patrick McGilligan, profiles Ray, who was as known for his Hollywood romances as his movies: He slept with Natalie Wood when she was just 16 during production of Rebel. His other conquests include Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford and Judy Holliday.

His most famous marriage was to noir icon Gloria Grahame, who costarred with Mitchum in Macao and Not as a Stranger. The Grahame biography Suicide Blonde details their stormy marriage and her subsequent marriage to Ray's son from his first marriage. (That's right, she married her own stepson!)

Ray would go on to become a mentor to filmmakers Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch (who directed Mitchum's last theatrical film, Dead Man). Wenders gave Ray a cameo in The American Friend and filmed Lightning Over Water, a documentary about Ray's last days.


JSOnline Book review 

Mitchum's Time in the Conservation Corps

Mitchum tends his own yard as a movie star (ToutLeCine.com)

Were you aware that ROBERT MITCHUM served time in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)? Well, add ditch digger to his colorful pre-Hollywood resumé, which included riding the rails, serving on a chain gang (he was arrested as a vagrant) and a brief stint as an astrologer.

In this article about the CCC, Mitchum is mentioned as one of those who spent time in the New Deal program begun by Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

The program operated from 1933 to 1942 and provided unskilled manual labor employment for young men in relief families. It paid $30 per month ($5 for them $25 directly to their families) for work that conserved and developed natural resources in lands owned by the government.

The program was responsible for planting three billion trees, restoring 3,980 historical structures, constructing of over 785 parks, building 46,000 bridges, erecting 400,000 signs, and, aside from employing over three million men when the nation’s economy and morale most needed it, sparking a larger national interests in nature conservation and physical fitness."

After he'd made a success in Hollywood, Mitchum said, “those digging days were tough, acting is easy. I’m grateful for where I’m now, but I never get too cozy with it. I remember what it took to earn that money then and what we kept telling each other we’d do if we ever got another full-time job.”

Robert Mitchum Western Series at UCLA

Mitchum in 'Blood on the Moon'

Great news for LA-based ROBERT MITCHUM fans: UCLA is screening 10 of his westerns in a series called Tracking the Cat: Robert Mitchum in the West.

The series runs from July 8 through July 30 and includes both well-known westerns like El Dorado and some much more obscure cowboy flicks, like West of the Pecos. 

Films in the series include several great films not on DVD, like Blood on the Moon, The Lusty Men, as well as Pursued, The Sundowners (which apparently counts as a western even though it's set in Australia), Track of the Cat, Rachel and the Stranger, River of No Return and The Wonderful Country.


Overview of Mitchum's westerns.