Nicholas Ray Biography
Raymond Nicholas Kienzle, known as Nicholas Ray, was born in 1911 in Wisconsin. From a young age he demonstrated great talent in theatre, music and architecture. He studied with Frank Lloyd Wright, whose influence would prove decisive for his career, and formed a friendship with Elia Kazan, for whom in 1935 he acted in the play entitled "The Young Go First". He also worked with John Houseman, director of the La Phoenix theater company at the time. Thanks to Houseman, Ray had the opportunity to direct his first film in 1947, "The Bandit Woman". During the 1950s, Ray's meeting with James Dean represented an important moment in his career, especially thanks to the success of the 1955 film "Rebel Without a Cause". During the turbulent filming of the film "55 Days at Peking" , Ray suffered a heart attack. This affair contributed to an early withdrawal from film productions. Ray spent the last fifteen years of his life alone and plagued by illness. He received a sort of redemption thanks to the young admirer Wim Wenders, who documented his terrible agony in the posthumous film "Nick's Movie", with the consent of Ray himself. Nicholas Ray died of cancer on June 17, 1979.
