Nicholas Ray

by Patrick McGilligan

  Richard Maibaum’s papers augmented my interview with Maibaum published in Backstory: Interviews with Screenwriters of Hollywood’s Golden Age (University of California Press, 1986) and my follow-up correspondence with the writer and his wife, Sylvia Maibaum, after his 1991 death. The 20th Century-Fox legal files supplied information and detail about Ray’s 1956 contract with the studio and the making of Bigger Than Life and The True Story of Jesse James. James Mason is quoted from his memoir Before I Forget (Hamish Hamilton, 1981) and from Rui Nogueira’s illuminating “James Mason Talks About His Career in the Cinema,” Focus on Film (Mar.–Apr. 1970).

  “I think within two years . . .” is from Bob Thomas, “Movie Fame for Dean is Posthumous,” one version of which was syndicated in the Robesonian (Lumberton, NC), Nov. 18, 1955. “Rebel Without a Cause out West” and “My preliminary production scheme . . .” from Ray’s Movie interview. Walter Newman is quoted from Rui Nogueira’s “Writing for the Movies: Walter Newman,” Focus on Film (Autumn 1972). “This is an awfully difficult script . . .” from Molly Mandaville’s Aug. 31, 1956, interoffice memo to Buddy Adler and higher-ups. “I do not understand . . .” from Adler’s Sept. 10, 1956, memo dictated in New York to Mandaville. “All-American laughing boy . . .” from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “I’m sure he knew every possible . . .” from “In Class VI” in I Was Interrupted. “The real reason they made it . . .” from Ray’s Film Journal interview. “Continuous blackout . . .” from “I Was Thinking About a Man” in I Was Interrupted. Robert Wagner from his memoir (with Scott Eyman) Pieces of My Heart (Harper Entertainment, 2008). “I think some of the best scenes . . .” from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “I’ve only seen the movie once . . .” from Ray’s Movie interview.

  Helpful to my understanding of Bitter Victory was Carloss James Chamberlin’s provocative “Regarding Bitter Victory: Hollywood’s Philoctetes in the Desert, or La Politique des Comediens,” at www.archive.sensesofcinema.com. Also enlightening was Anna Phelan Cox’s “The Homosocial Struggle Versus the Heterosexual ‘Home’: The Dialectic of Desire in the Films of Nicholas Ray.” Vladimir Pozner, Michel Kelber, and Rene Lichtig are quoted from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. Christopher Lee from Tall, Dark and Gruesome: An Autobiography (W. H. Allen, 1977). “It’s true that I lost . . .” from “Nicholas Ray: A Fine Director, Unemployed” by Vincent Canby, New York Times (June 8, 1959).

  TEN: LOST CAUSES

  Special collections: MGM production files, University of California–Los Angeles; Joe Pasternak collection, University of California–Los Angeles; Budd Schulberg papers, Dartmouth College; George Wells papers, University of Wyoming.

  “Always something of the poseur . . .” and “urgent theme of conservation” from Budd Schulberg’s Dec. 16, 1981, letter to Andrew Sarris in the Schulberg collection. “I will check once more . . .” from Stuart Schulberg’s Feb. 11, 1957, letter to his brother. “He’s first-rate. Skilled . . .” is Steve Trilling quoted by Stuart Schulberg in the same letter. “For a number of reasons—not the least of them some uncertainty as to your availability” from Stuart Schulberg’s Mar. 29, 1957, letter to Ray at the Hotel Negresco in Nice, France. “I know you will be as thrilled . . .” and “He seemed to us too physically magnificent . . .” from Stuart Schulberg’s Aug. 22, 1957, letter to Ray at the Hotel Raphael in Paris.

  “Flopped in his lap . . . ,” “He was in a way a distortion . . . ,” and “sop up the atmosphere . . .” are from the interview with Budd Schulberg in Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. The anecdote about the Everglades trip from the Eisenschitz book. Ray’s undated, one-page, single-spaced, typed letter about Manon, addressed to “My very dear Budd” and signed “Always, Nick” is in the Schulberg papers. Christopher Plummer from In Spite of Myself. “I thought we’d all get together . . . ,” “It was the first of three so-called attempts . . . ,” the anecdote about the first read-through, and “in a sense that is what happened . . .” from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “Ives and Plummer both bedridden . . .” from a Jan. 10, 1958, “Budd and Stuart” telegram to Steve Trilling. “Time, effort and cost . . .” from a Dec. 10, 1957, memo from Jack Warner and Trilling to Stuart Schulberg in Everglades City. “Methods of director unexpectedly intricate . . .” from a Dec. 19, 1957, Schulberg brothers telegram to Trilling. Roberta Hodes and Charlie Maguire are quoted from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “Schulberg refused to allow a range of respect among men” and Ray’s accusation that Schulberg required a ghostwriter from his Take One interview.

  “Just saw picture . . .” from Jack Warner’s Apr. 22, 1958, telegram sent from New York to Steve Trilling in California. Stuart Schulberg’s attempts to get Ray to view the “first cut” or subsequent versions of Wind Across the Everglades before the preview are recapped in his June 30, 1958, memo to Trilling. “Forget the whole matter . . .” from Trilling’s July 1, 1958, interoffice communication with studio legal executive Roy Obringer. Ray reported his reaction to the Wind Across the Everglades preview in a three-page, double-spaced, undated letter addressed to “My Dear Budd” and copied to editor George Klotz, the Schulberg brothers, Steve Trilling, and Jack Warner.

  George Wells is quoted with permission from a transcript of Eric Monder’s 1992 interview with the writer, a portion of which appeared as “George Wells: Portrait of a Contract Writer” in Classic Images (June 1993). Ray discusses his color choices for Party Girl in “Color Plays Top Role in MGM’s Party Girl,” Pasadena Star-News (CA; June 30, 1958). “Like a true Method actor” and “I took him to the greatest . . .” from Ray’s Take One interview. “As though you were smoking a joint” from Jean-Claude Missiaen’s book Cyd Charisse (H. Veyrier, 1982), as cited in Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “He [Ray] didn’t have a clue about the [musical] numbers” from Charisse’s interview in the MGM Archival Project.

  “The first major script I wrote . . .” from “I Hate a Script” in I Was Interrupted. “I took more from the Archives of Copenhagen . . .” from Ray’s Take One interview. Jacques Giraldeau and Aldo Tonti from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. Peter O’Toole’s wife, Siân Phillips, from Public Places: My Life in the Theater, with Peter O’Toole and Beyond (Faber & Faber, 2003). “All the Eskimo dialogue . . .” from Ray’s Take One interview. “Terrible problems” and “On one or two occasions I even had to shoot . . .” from Jean Douchet’s “Nicholas Ray les Dents du Diable sont mon meilleur film,” Arts (May 4, 1960), as cited in Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “The Star’s a ‘He-Man’ off the Screen Too,” Winnipeg Free Press (June 9, 1959), provides an unbylined, eyewitness account of Ray on the Arctic location of The Savage Innocents. “I suppose I should be tired . . .” is Ray from “Nanook 1960: Making a Film of Eskimo Life Today,” the Times (Aug. 5, 1959). “The score had an Italian flavor . . .” from Sight and Sound, Winter, 1960–61. Eugene Archer’s article comparing Ray to Jean-Luc Godard and Michelangelo Antonioni appeared in the May 15, 1961, New York Times.

  Books and other sources: Alfred Hayes, Just Before the Divorce (Atheneum, 1968); Tony Martin, Dick Kleiner, and Cyd Charisse, The Two of Us (Mason/Charter, 1976); Stuart B. McIver, Touched by the Sun: The Florida Chronicles, vol. 3 (Pineapple Press, 2001); Richard Porton, “Acting in the Grand Manner: An Interview with Christopher Plummer,” Cineaste (Summer 2009); Budd Schulberg, Across the Everglades: A Play for the Screen (Random House, 1958); Stuart Schulberg, “Florida Screen Safari,” New York Times (Jan. 19, 1958); Stuart Schulberg, “Letter to the Editor,” Films in Review (May 1958).

  ELEVEN: THE MARTYRLOGUE

  Special collections: the Lucie and Renée Lichtig papers, Cinémathèque Française; Clifford Odets Collection, Indiana University.

  Vitally informing my King of Kings and 55 Days at Peking narrative were the numerous Bronston organization documents channeled to me by Paul G. Nagle, who is writing his own book about the producer with Neal M. Rosendorf for the University of Texas Press. “For the first time since I completed . . .” from Ray’s February 6, 1960, let
ter to Bronston, as cited in Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “Pope’s Direct OK . . .” appeared on the front page of Variety, Mar. 9, 1960. “A quiet and peaceful life” is Samuel Bronston quoted in “The Actor Who Will Play Christ” by C. Gregory Jensen in Family Weekly (Dec. 23, 1960). “Every place he lived . . .” and other Gavin Lambert quotes in this chapter from Mainly About Lindsay Anderson. Actor Robert Stack from his memoir (written with Mark Evans) Straight Shooting (Macmillan, 1980).

  “Questionable bits . . .” from Bernard Smith’s June 6, 1960, letter from Madrid to Sol Siegel. “The teaching method used in the synagogues . . .” is Ray speaking to Jean Douchet and Jacques Joly, “Nouvel entretien avec Nicholas Ray,” Cahiers du Cinéma no. 127 (Jan. 1962), as cited in Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “A Y-shaped grouping . . .” from “Last Supper Scene Changed for Film,” Big Spring Herald (Texas), March 29, 1962. (The article appears without a byline and seems to be a publicity handout.) “The traditional, religious . . .” from “Christ Would Appear as Two-Fisted Spellbinder” by Erskine Johnson in the Waterloo Daily Courier (Iowa), Nov. 29, 1963. Ray Bradbury from Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews by Sam Weller (Stop Smiling Books, 2010).

  “And [if] you like these plans . . .” from Ray’s Feb. 11, 1961, letter to Clifford Odets in the Odets papers. Charlton Heston from his books Charlton Heston: The Actor’s Life: Journals, 1956–1976 (Dutton, 1978) and In the Arena: An Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, 1995). “Educating the critics . . .” from “Educating Critics” by W. J. Weatherby, the Guardian (Nov. 25, 1961). “A few over-awed fan-like words” from “Fueled by Enthusiasms: Jeffrey Crouse Interviews V. F. Perkins,” Film International no. 9 (2004:3). Penelope Houston’s article “The Critical Question” and Richard Roud’s “The French Line” are in the autumn 1960 Sight and Sound. V. F. Perkins’s views on “the world of Nicholas Ray” first appeared in issue no. 14 of the Oxford Opinion (June 14, 1960). “We were planning . . .” from “City Natives Top Film Directors” by Roger Fuller, La Crosse Sunday Tribune, Family Magazine (Oct. 2, 1966). Serge Daney and Paul Grant define “the martyrlogue” in Postcards from the Cinema (Berg, 2007). Gore Vidal in this chapter from Conversations with Gore Vidal, eds. Richard Peabody and Lucinda Ebersole (University Press of Mississippi, 2005) and in chapter 12 from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey.

  Ray defends King of Kings in “Bible-Film Critics Analyzed Sharply by Nichols Ray,” Dick Williams, Los Angeles Mirror (Dec. 2, 1961). “I have always been concerned . . .” from “Last Supper Scene Changed for Film.” “The wild expectations that were dreamt up . . .” from Philip Yordan’s Mar. 9, 1962, letter to Bronston lawyer James E. Covington Jr. “The highest paid director . . .” is described in the Eisenschitz book as a repeated claim of Ray’s in interviews during this period.

  Bernard Gordon is quoted from Hollywood Exile, or How I Learned to Love the Blacklist (University of Texas Press, 1999). Over the years I frequently discussed Ray with Gordon and Philip Yordan. “One of Nick’s troubles . . .” from “Dangerous Talents,” Vanity Fair (Mar. 2005). “My mother said he was more excited . . .” is Nicca Ray from the same article. Ben Barzman is quoted from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. Andrew Marton from Joanne D’Antonio’s Andrew Marton, Directors Guild of America Oral History Series (Scarecrow, 1991). I also consulted Lee Server’s Ava Gardner: “Love Is Nothing” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006) for background on her involvement in 55 Days at Peking.

  TWELVE: PROJECT X

  Special collections: David Helpern papers, University of Wisconsin–Madison; James Jones papers, University of Texas; Warner Bros. production files, USC.

  My version of Luis Buñuel’s meeting with Ray is drawn from Buñuel: 100 Years, 100 Anos (Instituto Cervantes/Museum of Modern Art, 2000). Dr. Barrington Cooper is described from his Jan. 5, 2008, obituary in the Times (London). Frawley Becker is quoted from his memoir And the Stars Spoke Back: A Dialogue Coach Remembers Hollywood Players of the Sixties in Paris (Scarecrow, 2004). John Fowles from The Journals, vol. 1, ed. Charles Drazin (Jonathan Cape, 2003). “Nick thought and spoke in English . . .” and other Barrington Cooper quotes from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “A film company shooting a picture . . .” and William Fadiman’s appraisal of Ray and the script of The Doctor and the Devils from a three-page undated memo in Warner’s production files. “Working on the script daily . . .” from an Oct. 14, 1965, letter from entertainment attorney Lee N. Steiner to Eliot Hyman.

  “I love the panorama of change . . .” from “I Like Sylt: Unser Exklusivinterview mit dem weltberühmten Filmregisseur Nicholas Ray,” Herbert G. Hegedo, Kuvzeitung sylt (1969). “Here one could realize . . .” from “Aus Wanderern werden Gäste,” Clara Enss, Sylter spiegel (summer 2001). I also relied on “Wenn ich geewinne, gewinnt die Inselt mit,” from the Oct. 10, 1968, Sylter rundschau and the book Sylt prominent by local journalist Frank Deppe (Medien-Verlag Schubert, 2004). “He made one’s ability . . .” from the V. F. Perkins interview in Film International.

  Andrew Sarris wrote about Party Girl as part of “The Director’s Game,” Film Culture (Spring 1961), and the auteurist ranked Ray among the second tier of Hollywood directors in “The American Cinema,” Film Culture (Summer 1961). Sarris penned his “Notes on the Auteur Theory” in Film Culture (Winter 1962–63). Dwight Macdonald wrote about Sarris and auteurism in his Oct. 1963 Esquire column. Pauline Kael’s “Circle and Squares” appeared in Film Quarterly (Spring 1963). Sarris responded to Kael in “The Auteur Theory in the Perils of Pauline,” Film Quarterly (Summer 1963). David Denby wrote about Kael’s “embarrassing” lunch with Ray in “My Life as a Paulette,” the New Yorker (Oct. 20, 2003). Gavin Lambert recalled mentioning Ray to John Ford in Mainly About Lindsay Anderson. “Not as good as The Lusty Men . . .” and “Directors who have not had the experience . . .” from Camera Three. “I started out as an actor . . .” from Vincent Canby’s “Nicholas Ray, a Fine Director, Unemployed.” George Cukor’s opinion of Ray and Wind Across the Everglades from Postcards from the Cinema. Terry Curtis Fox recounted the anecdote about Ray and Fritz Lang in “Nicholas Ray, Without a Cause,” the Village Voice (July 9, 1979).

  “Abbie lifting his shirt . . .” is from Roger Ebert’s interview with Ray in the Los Angeles Times (Mar. 8, 1970). Abbie Hoffman is quoted from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “I played the role of Judge Hoffman . . .” is Tom Hayden from Rebel: A Personal History of the 1960s (Red Hen Press, 2003).

  Unless otherwise noted all Susan Schwartz Ray quotes come from her piece “The Autobiography of Nicholas Ray,” introducing I Was Interrupted. Roger Ebert’s interview with Ray from the Mar. 8, 1970, Los Angeles Times. The anecdote about Abbie Hoffman and “dead names” is from James Leahy’s useful “Breathing Together: The Author in Search of Investors,” www.sensesofcinema.com. (This was a reworking of an earlier article, also consulted for this book: “Blood and Ice: Images of Nicholas Ray,” Pix, Spring 2001.) Ray’s last visit to La Crosse and his filming of Russell Huber from “Director Uses Visit Home to Film Part of Movie” in the La Crosse Tribune (May 7, 1970). “Fell asleep at the editing table” from Ray’s Take One interview. Myron Meisel from “Portrait of the Artist Buried in Film,” L.A. Reader (Nov. 16, 1979). Perry Bruskin from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey.

  “He was more than a teacher . . .” is Tom Farrell from “We Can’t Go Home Again,” Sight and Sound (Spring 1981). (I am also grateful to Farrell for the earlier Melville/Ahab comparison.) “An adventure in time and space . . .” from Vincent Canby’s “Nicholas Ray: Still a Rebel with a Cause,” New York Times (Sept. 24, 1972). Jeff Greenberg wrote about the Harpur filmmaking class in “Nicholas Ray Today,” Filmmakers Newsletter (Jan. 1973). “We would all drink together . . .” from Oren Moverman’s interview with Danny Fisher in the “Filmmakers on Film Schools” issue, Projections 12 (Faber & Faber, 2002). All Bill Krohn references from “The Class,” Cahiers du Cinéma (May 1978). (An English-language version of this article and a transcript of Krohn’s extend
ed interview with Ray were provided to the author.) “The film they see . . .” from “Film as Experience” by Joseph Lederer, American Film (Nov. 1975). “Very few people . . . and we were starving . . .” is Charles Bornstein quoted in Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. The anecdote about Susan Schwartz and Sterling Hayden being stoned during the 1973 Cannes screening of We Can’t Go Home Again from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “Video creates a Socratic relationship . . .” from “Highlights from Cannes” by Betty Jeffries Demby, Filmmakers Newsletter (Nov. 1973). “It was something that somebody would do . . .” is Philip Yordan quoted in Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “He’d be zonked out . . .” is Tom Luddy from Jonathan Rosenbaum’s, “Looking for Nicholas Ray,” American Film (Dec. 1981).

  Nicca Ray and Tom Farrell quoted from the Vanity Fair article. Chris Sievernich quoted from “Looking for Nicholas Ray,” American Film. “I am the best damn filmmaker . . .” from “Nicholas Ray: From La Crosse to Hollywood” by Rick Harsch, La Crosse Tribune (Jan. 14, 1996). “Although the film was a huge success . . .” from Ray’s Movie interview. “Just another straight to the nabe . . .” from “55 Days with Nick Ray,” Film Journal (Spring 1994). “A failure—unsuccessful . . .” from “Film as Experience,” American Film (Nov. 1975). “On the grounds that those names . . .” from “Nick Ray in Portland” by Peter Nellhaus, the Animator (Portland Art Museum, May–June 1973). Leslie Levinson is quoted from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “Rebel’s Progress,” Andrew Kopkind’s interview with Ray, is in the Jan. 15, 1975 Real Paper (Boston).

  “I have a camera in my head” and Ray’s comparison of Marilyn Chambers to “young Katie Hepburn” and Bette Davis from “Nick Ray Back; Lead Is Porno Queen” by Addison Verrill, Variety (Apr. 21, 1976). Miloš Forman from Turnaround: A Memoir (Villard, 1994). “An old friend . . .” from “Backgammon. Alarm Rings” in I Was Interrupted. “As a point of departure” is Wim Wenders from Nicholas Ray: An American Journey. “In an extreme state of rage” is Susan Schwartz Ray from “Lightning Ray’s Final ‘Despair’ ” by Clarke Taylor, Los Angeles Times (Jan. 10, 1982). William G. Cahan from No Stranger to Tears: A Surgeon’s Story (Random House, 1992). “We lifted him on stage . . .” from Tom Farrell’s e-mail correspondence with the author.