Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#9065
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Ray Teal represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 30 years in, and Ray is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Ray Teal appears in 21 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Ray. Judgment at Nuremberg is the clearest case: a film rated 7.6 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for western, drama, history. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Andrew V. McLaglen, Stanley Kramer, Marlon Brando and others, Ray Teal helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) as Curtiss Ives · Ace in the Hole (1951) as Sheriff · The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) as Mr. Mollett
Career snapshot
Ranked #9065 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
21
1940–1970
Career length
30 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.6
Judgment at Nuremberg
Average Nutevio score
6.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
Judgment at Nuremberg
Most frequent director
William Wyler
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With William Wyler
Most common genre
Drama
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 56m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.7
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1960s
7.1 average MV
The 1960s are where the work and the material meet. Judgment at Nuremberg, One-Eyed Jacks — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1960s
7.1
Across 2 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1960s
7.4
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1940s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Man from Colorado, Joan of Arc, Ramrod.
Most productive era
1940s
12 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.68 films | 7.04 films | 7.12 films | — |
| Thriller | 6.62 films | 6.71 film | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.62 films | — | — | — |
| Crime | 6.82 films | 6.84 films | — | — |
| Romance | 6.84 films | 6.82 films | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Bradley McNeil.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
7.6 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
1970Chisum
The current state of the argument, as Justice J.B. Wilson.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
21 of 21 films
as Sheriff
Directed by Billy Wilder
as Mr. Mollett
Directed by William Wyler
as Cop in Car Barn Slugged by Dix (uncredited)
Directed by John Huston
as California Border Inspector (uncredited)
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Curtiss Ives
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Performance score7.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Curtiss Ives gives Ray Teal a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Sheriff
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Performance score7.2
Ace in the Hole asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sheriff is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mr. Mollett
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Performance score7.2
The Best Years of Our Lives asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mr. Mollett is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Cop in Car Barn Slugged by Dix (uncredited)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Performance score7.0
The Asphalt Jungle asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Cop in Car Barn Slugged by Dix (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Curtiss Ives
Start here. Judgment at Nuremberg is the clearest statement of what Ray Teal does — accessible, 191 minutes, and rated 7.6 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Ray at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Keeps the drama register of Judgment at Nuremberg but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Keeps the drama register of The Best Years of Our Lives but asks for a colder reading of it.
Gun Crazy (1950)
Keeps the crime register of The Asphalt Jungle but asks for a colder reading of it.
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Keeps the drama register of Gun Crazy but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
William Wyler
Director
2 films together
Notably The Best Years of Our Lives
King Vidor
Director
1 film together
Notably Northwest Passage
George Stevens
Director
1 film together
Notably Woman of the Year
Mervyn LeRoy
Director
1 film together
Notably Madame Curie
George Sidney
Director
1 film together
Notably Anchors Aweigh
Edgar G. Ulmer
Director
1 film together
Notably The Strange Woman
Jacques Tourneur
Director
1 film together
Notably Canyon Passage
John Cromwell
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead Reckoning
Jules Dassin
Director
1 film together
Notably Brute Force
André de Toth
Director
1 film together
Notably Ramrod
Victor Fleming
Director
1 film together
Notably Joan of Arc
Henry Levin
Director
1 film together
Notably The Man from Colorado
John Huston
Director
1 film together
Notably The Asphalt Jungle
Anthony Mann
Director
1 film together
Notably Winchester '73
Joseph H. Lewis
Director
1 film together
Notably Gun Crazy
Billy Wilder
Director
1 film together
Notably Ace in the Hole
László Benedek
Director
1 film together
Notably The Wild One
Marlon Brando
Director
1 film together
Notably One-Eyed Jacks
Stanley Kramer
Director
1 film together
Notably Judgment at Nuremberg
Andrew V. McLaglen
Director
1 film together
Notably Chisum
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
William Wyler
Director
2 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Best Years of Our LivesStanley Kramer
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Judgment at NurembergBilly Wilder
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ace in the HoleJohn Huston
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Asphalt JungleJoseph H. Lewis
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gun CrazyAnthony Mann
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Winchester '73Jules Dassin
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Brute ForceMervyn LeRoy
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Madame CurieMarlon Brando
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
One-Eyed JacksJohn Cromwell
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dead ReckoningGeorge Sidney
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Anchors AweighGeorge Stevens
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Woman of the YearAndrew V. McLaglen
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ChisumLászló Benedek
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Wild OneHenry Levin
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Man from ColoradoJacques Tourneur
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Canyon PassageAndré de Toth
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RamrodKing Vidor
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Northwest PassageVictor Fleming
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Joan of ArcEdgar G. Ulmer
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Strange WomanSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Ace in the Hole
as Sheriff
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Best Years of Our Lives
as Mr. Mollett
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Judgment at Nuremberg
as Curtiss Ives
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Winchester '73
as Marshall Noonan (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Judgment at Nuremberg
as Curtiss Ives
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Ray Teal has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
30 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Drama Legend
Awarded
14 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Judgment at Nuremberg
as Curtiss Ives
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Desperate Hours
as State Police Lt. Fredericks
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Best Years of Our Lives
as Mr. Mollett
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Dead Reckoning
as Motorcycle Cop (uncredited)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Judgment at Nuremberg
as Curtiss Ives
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Chisum
as Justice J.B. Wilson
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Woman of the Year
as Married Sports Reporter (uncredited)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Joan of Arc
as Bertrand de Poulengy, a squire
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
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Reference
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