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.


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