Boston-born Ray Nazarro embarked on a cinematic journey that spanned the silent-film era, initially serving as an assistant director. His directing career commenced in 1932, commencing with shorts and gradually transitioning to low-budget, quickie features for Poverty Row studios.
Throughout the years, Nazarro alternated between directing shorts and serving as an assistant director on feature films, often specializing in westerns at Columbia Pictures. By 1945, he became a prominent director of westerns for the studio, a genre and studio that would occupy a substantial portion of his career.
Over the next two decades, Nazarro maintained a steady pace, producing dozens of Columbia's westerns, including numerous installments in the "Durango Kid" series alongside Charles Starrett. Additionally, he was responsible for a plethora of Columbia's musical westerns and low-budget hillbilly musicals, featuring notable acts such as The Hoosier Hotshots.
As the era of B westerns drew to a close, Nazarro ventured to Europe, where he contributed to the production of "spaghetti westerns." He also collaborated on a peculiar and troubled Jayne Mansfield film, Einer frisst den anderen (1964).
Nazarro's career did not cease with his transition to Europe; he returned to directing television series, a medium he had occasionally worked in since the early 1950s, predominantly focusing on westerns.
He continued to work in television, largely concentrating on westerns, and was one of several directors involved in the production of Einer frisst den anderen (1964).
