Bigger Than Life is an American DeLuxe Color CinemaScope film made in 1956 directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Mason, who also co-wrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone.
He was Oscar-nominated in 1948 for Jean Negulesco’s Johnny Belinda, and also worked on Young Man with a Horn (1950), Battle Cry (1955) and Nicholas Ray’s seminal Rebel Without a Cause in 1956.
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In 1958, Schulberg wrote and co-produced (with his younger brother, Stuart) the film Wind Across the Everglades, directed by Nicholas Ray.
In January 2011, Fish directed an adaptation of Nicholas Ray's film Bigger Than Life, entitled Tom Ryan Thinks He's James Mason Starring in a Movie By Nicholas Ray in which a Man's Illness Provides an Escape from the Pain, Pressure and Loneliness of Trying to be the Ultimate American Father, Only to Drive Him Further Into the More Thrilling Though Possibly Lonelier Roles of Addict and Misunderstood Visionary.
Despite that it was exposure to the work of Akira Kurosawa, John Ford and Nicholas Ray which proved crucial in his decision to become a filmmaker.
In 1973 he worked with director Nicholas Ray on the soundtrack to one of Ray's final films, We Can't Go Home Again, although Lainhart's score was not used in the final version.
Nicholas Ray appears in a minor role in Wenders' film The American Friend.