Aldo Ray’s M-1943 Field Jacket in Nightfall

Aldo Ray in Nighfall (1956) Vitals Aldo Ray as Art Rayburn, aka Jim Vanning, commercial artist and war veteran Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Winter 1956 Film: Nightfall Release Date: December 5, 1956 Director: Jacques Tourneur Costume Designer: Jean Louis (credited for gowns) WARNING! Spoilers ahead! Background Today would have been the 100th birthday of Aldo Ray, born September 25, 1926. A tough and resilient U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, the raspy-voiced Ray often incorporated these traits into his characters—perhaps most skillfully in Jacques Tourneur’s 1956 thriller Nightfall, released 70 years ago this December. The film has been celebrated as a favorite by crime fiction experts James Ellroy and Quentin Tarantino, the latter citing it as inspiration for Bruce Willis’ character in Pulp Fiction. Based on a 1948 novel by David Goodis, Nightfall both follows and subverts many film noir tropes; though often photographed against bright, snowy countryside rather than exclusively urban…