When the credits rolled, they read “Nicholas Ray” – and in fact, he was born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle – but the shorthand Nick Ray, brusque yet familiar, is the go-to writers use when talking about the guy who set to screen gutting explorations of addiction in Bigger Than Life and In a Lonely Place while battling similar demons in real life; who squired a 16-year-old Natalie Wood on the set of his 1955 hit Rebel Without a Cause; who co-authored iconic, if coded, representations of gays in Rebel and Johnny Guitar; who caught his second wife (out of four), Gloria Grahame, in bed with his teenager son (she later married him); who lost the use of one eye in 1968; who mentored Jim Jarmusch; and who had his slow death from cancer chronicled by Wim Wenders. Bigger than life, indeed.

The Chronicle‘s Marjorie Baumgarten will shed light on some of those stories when she introduces the Alamo Draftouse’s Cinema Club screening of Bigger Than Life on Sunday, March 27, at 7pm. See Special Screenings for more info.

This article appears in March 25 • 2011.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...