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Ray Nazarro
Ray Nazarro
Born	Raymond Alfred Nazarro; September 25, 1902; Boston, Massachusetts, US
Died	September 8, 1986 (aged 83); Studio City, Los Angeles, California, US
Occupation(s)	Film and television director, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1929–1964

Ray Nazarro (aka "Ray" and "Nat;" né Raymond Alfred Nazarro; September 25, 1902 – September 8, 1986) was an American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. Budd Boetticher called him a "ten-day picture guy."^[1]

Career

Born in Boston, Nazarro entered the movie business during the silent era. He initially worked in two-reelers. In 1945 he became a feature-film director at Columbia Pictures, beginning with Outlaws of the Rockies.^[2]

Nazarro was one of Hollywood's busiest directors, directing as many as 13 pictures in one year. He made budget Westerns almost exclusively. From 1945 to 1948 he alternated between directing action Westerns with Columbia's leading cowboy star Charles Starrett and directing the "rural rhythm" band The Hoosier Hot Shots in a series of musical-comedy Westerns. When the musical series lapsed in 1948, Nazarro concentrated on the Starrett Westerns, now featuring the Durango Kid character.^[3]^[4]^[5]

In 1950 Nazarro was assigned a non-Western "B" picture, David Harding, Counterspy.^[6] This resulted in Nazarro receiving more non-Western assignments and slightly higher budgets. He was also entrusted with more ambitious Western stories, with an emphasis on action but also a serious, elegiac view of the West, like Al Jennings of Oklahoma (1951) starring Dan Duryea.^[7]

In 1952, Nazarro received an Academy Award nomination for Best Story for Bullfighter and the Lady. Budd Boetticher, who had been a bullfighter, told his life story to Nazarro when he was working for him as an assistant director. Boetticher says he wrote it down, and Nazarro typed it up and sold the project to Dore Schary at MGM. Boetticher said that was the reason for Nazarro getting screen credit.^[1]

When Columbia suspended B-Western production in 1952, Nazarro's contract with Columbia ended^[8] after he had made around 60 films for the studio.^[9] He next made Gun Belt for United Artists and followed that with The Bandits of Corsica, also for UA, and Kansas Pacific for Allied Artists Pictures,^[9] although both were released before Gun Belt. He continued making films for UA and Columbia until Apache Territory (1958).^[9] He also made The Hired Gun (1957) for MGM.^[9]

In the late 1950s, with the market for B-Westerns drying up in America, Nazarro restarted his career in Europe, making spaghetti Westerns. He also began working in television. His last film was the German-made Jayne Mansfield thriller Dog Eat Dog, released in 1964.^[10]

Nazarro died on September 8, 1986, and is buried in Chapel of the Pines Crematory.^{[citation needed]}

Selected filmography

Film
Year	Film	Notes
1932	Runt Page	Credited as Raymond Nazarro; Short film
1934	Jimmy the Gent	Writer, story "The Heir Chaser"
1935	Suicide Squad	Writer
1935	Roaring Roads	as Reymond Nazarro
1945	Outlaws of the Rockies
1945	Song of the Prairie
1945	Texas Panhandle
1946	Roaring Rangers
1946	Throw a Saddle on a Star
1946	Gunning for Vengeance
1946	Galloping Thunder
1946	That Texas Jamboree
1946	Two-Fisted Stranger
1946	The Desert Horseman
1946	Cowboy Blues
1946	Heading West
1946	Singing on the Trail
1946	Terror Trail
1946	Lone Star Moonlight
1947	Over the Santa Fe Trail
1947	The Lone Hand Texan
1947	West of Dodge City
1947	Law of the Canyon
1947	Buckaroo from Powder River
1947	Last Days of Boot Hill
1947	Rose of Santa Rosa
1948	Six-Gun Law
1948	Phantom Valley
1948	Song of Idaho
1948	West of Sonora
1948	Blazing Across the Pecos
1948	The Arkansas Swing
1948	Trail to Laredo
1948	Singin' Spurs
1948	El Dorado Pass
1948	Quick on the Trigger
1948	Smoky Mountain Melody
1949	Challenge of the Range
1949	Home in San Antone
1949	Laramie
1949	The Blazing Trail
1949	South of Death Valley
1949	Bandits of El Dorado
1949	Renegades of the Sage
1950	Trail of the Rustlers
1950	The Palomino
1950	Outcast of Black Mesa
1950	Texas Dynamo
1950	Hoedown
1950	David Harding, Counterspy
1950	Streets of Ghost Town
1950	The Tougher They Come
1950	Frontier Outpost
1951	Al Jennings of Oklahoma
1951	Flame of Stamboul
1951	Fort Savage Raiders
1951	China Corsair
1951	Cyclone Fury
1951	The Kid from Amarillo
1952	Indian Uprising
1952	Laramie Mountains
1952	Montana Territory
1952	The Rough, Tough West
1952	Cripple Creek
1952	Junction City
1953	Kansas Pacific	First film released by another studio (Allied Artists) after contract with Columbia ended
1953	The Bandits of Corsica	Second film made for United Artists
1953	Gun Belt	First film made (for United Artists) since leaving Columbia
1954	Southwest Passage
1954	The Lone Gun
1954	The Black Dakotas
1955	Top Gun
1956	The White Squaw
1957	The Phantom Stagecoach
1957	The Hired Gun	Made for MGM
1957	Domino Kid
1958	Return to Warbow
1958	Apache Territory	Last US made film
1964	Dog Eat Dog
Television
Year	Title	Notes
1951	The Range Rider	Unknown episodes
1954–1956	Annie Oakley	14 episodes
1955	Buffalo Bill, Jr.	8 episodes
1955–1960	Fury	8 episodes, produced two episodes
1959	Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer	3 episodes