FILM DIRECTOR

Nicholas Ray

1911 - 1979

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Nicholas Ray (born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle Jr., August 7, 1911 – June 16, 1979) was an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. 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. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Nicholas Ray is the 242nd most popular film director (down from 227th in 2019), the 1,938th most popular biography from United States (down from 1,515th in 2019) and the 70th most popular American Film Director.

Nicholas Ray is most famous for directing Rebel Without a Cause, a film about the American teenager.

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Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, Nicholas Ray ranks 242 out of 2,041. Before him are Robert Wiene, John Schlesinger, Otto Preminger, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Ruggero Deodato, and Franklin J. Schaffner. After him are Thea von Harbou, Joe D'Amato, Bertrand Tavernier, James Foley, Patrice Chéreau, and Chris Marker.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1911, Nicholas Ray ranks 74. Before him are Lee J. Cobb, Hans von Ohain, Dieter Wisliceny, Stanisława Walasiewicz, David Seymour, and André Claveau. After him are Eduardo Frei Montalva, Sergey Sokolov, Mahalia Jackson, Hubert Humphrey, Karl Silberbauer, and Carl Keenan Seyfert. Among people deceased in 1979, Nicholas Ray ranks 50. Before him are Dimitri Tiomkin, Otto Robert Frisch, Jean-Marie Villot, Alfredo Ottaviani, Peggy Guggenheim, and Louis Chiron. After him are Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth, Louis Durey, Conrad Hilton, Richard Rodgers, Charles W. Morris, and Walther Gerlach.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Nicholas Ray ranks 1,938 out of 20,380. Before him are "Weird Al" Yankovic (1959), Steve Ditko (1927), George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. (1859), Jack Lew (1955), Diana Gabaldon (1952), and Travis Scott (1991). After him are Ethan Allen (1738), Carl Wieman (1951), Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1817), Nora Roberts (1950), Helen Hayes (1900), and June Carter Cash (1929).

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Among FILM DIRECTORS In United States

Among film directors born in United States, Nicholas Ray ranks 70. Before him are Stanley Kramer (1913), Donald P. Bellisario (1935), David Zucker (1947), Robert J. Flaherty (1884), Ryan Murphy (1965), and Richard Donner (1930). After him are James Foley (1953), Michael Moore (1954), Henry Hathaway (1898), Peter Bogdanovich (1939), John Sturges (1910), and Roger Corman (1926).

American born Film Directors

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