Spalding Gray
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Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – ca. January 10, 2004) was an American actor, screenwriter and playwright. Born in Barrington, Rhode Island, he was best known for his performance monologues, which address events from his own life in a style characterised by humor, paranoia and acute self-consciousness.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Career
After a few minor cinema roles and appearing in a sadomasochistic porn film, The Farmer's Daughter, Gray first achieved national prominence with his film Swimming to Cambodia, a filmed version of one of his monologues. He based the monologue on his experiences in Southeast Asia while filming a small part in the 1984 movie The Killing Fields.
He attracted some attention from postmodernist critics over the extent of the overlap between his off-stage self and his on-stage persona, and was sometimes criticised as exploitative for the way he appropriated the fortunes or misfortunes of others for material for his monologues. He was a founding member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group. He also appeared in a Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town.
In the early 1990s, Gray published his first and only novel, Impossible Vacation. The novel is strongly based upon Gray's own life experiences, including his Christian Scientist upbringing, his WASP background, and his mother's suicide. True to form, Gray wrote a monologue about his experiences writing the book, entitled Monster in a Box.
In June 2001 he suffered severe injuries in a car crash while on holiday in Ireland. In January 2004, Gray, known to suffer bouts of depression in part as a result of these injuries, was declared missing. The night before his disappearance he had seen Tim Burton's film Big Fish, which ends with the line "A man tells a story over and over so many times he becomes the story. In that way, he is immortal." Gray's widow, Kathie Russo, has said “You know, Spalding cried after he saw that movie. I just think it gave him permission. I think it gave him permission to die.” (New York Magazine Feb 2, 2004)
[edit] Death
When Gray was first declared missing his profile was featured on the FOX show "America's Most Wanted".
On March 7, 2004, the New York City medical examiner's office reported that at 3:00 Spalding Gray's body had been pulled from the East River. It is believed that he jumped off the side of the Staten Island Ferry. In light of a suicide attempt in 2002, and the fact that his mother had taken her own life in 1967, suicide was the suspected cause of death. It was reported that Gray was working on a new monologue at the time of his death, and that the subject matter of the piece – the Ireland car crash and his subsequent attempts to recover from his injuries – might have triggered his final bout of depression.
Gray was survived by his wife, Kathie Russo, three children, and his brothers Rockwell Gray, an English professor in St. Louis, Missouri, and Channing Gray, arts writer for the Providence Journal.
In 2005, Gray's unfinished final monologue was published in a hardcover edition entitled Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue. Running only 39 pages, the monologue — which had been performed by Gray in one of his last public appearances — is augmented by two additional pieces he also performed at the time, a short remembrance called "The Anniversary" and an open letter to New York City written in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Also included in the book is an extensive collection of remembrances and tributes from fellow performers and friends.
[edit] Cultural references
- On January 23, 2004, Songfight posted a title called "Spalding Gray Is Missing".
- A film adaptation of Life Interrupted is to be released in 2007, and is being directed by Steven Soderbergh.[1]
- From March through May 2007 in New York City, a play Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell was performed by a cast of four and a rotating guest star.
[edit] Filmography
Below is a chronological filmography.
[edit] Movies written and performed by Spalding Gray
- 1996 Gray's Anatomy
- 1991 Monster in a Box
- 1988 Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure
- 1987 Swimming to Cambodia
[edit] Other works
- 2001 Kate and Leopold – Actor: Dr. Geisler
- 2001 How High – Actor: Professor Jackson
- 2001 Julie Johnson – Actor: Mr. Miranda
- 2001 Revolution #9 – Actor: Scooter McCrae
- 1999 Coming Soon – Actor: Mr. Jennings
- 1997 Drunks – Actor: Louis
- 1997 Bliss – Actor: Alfred
- 1996 Diabolique – Actor: Simon Veatch
- 1996 Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud
- 1996 Glory Daze
- 1995 Hoogste Tijd – Actor: Jack's Father
- 1995 Bad Company – Actor: Walter Curl
- 1995 Beyond Rangoon – Actor: Jeremy Watt
- 1994 The Paper – Actor: Paul Bladden
- 1993 The Pickle – Actor: Dr. Spalding
- 1993 Twenty Bucks – Actor: Priest
- 1993 Zelda – Actor: Sayre
- 1993 King of the Hill – Actor: Mr. Mungo
- 1992 Straight Talk – Actor: Dr. Erdman
- 1991 To Save a Child – Actor: Hobart
- 1989 Heavy Petting
- 1989 The Image – Actor: Frank Goodrich
- 1988 Clara's Heart – Actor: Dr. Peter Epstein
- 1988 Stars and Bars – Actor: Rev. Cardew
- 1988 Beaches – Actor: Dr. Richard Milstein
- 1986 True Stories – Actor: Earl Culver
- 1985 Seven Minutes in Heaven – Actor: Dr. Rodney
- 1985 The Communists Are Comfortable (And Three Other Stories)
- 1984 The Killing Fields – Actor: United States consul
- 1984 Hard Choices – Actor: Terry Norfolk
- 1984 Almost You – Actor: Travel Agent
- 1983 Variety
- 1978 Maraschino Cherry
- 1976 Little Orphan Dusty – Actor
- 1973 The Farmer's Daughter – Actor: George
- 1972 Love-In '72 – Actor: Radical at party
- 1970 Cowards – Actor: Radical
[edit] Bibliography
(All are based on monologues unless noted)
- 1977 Rumstick Road
- 1979 Point Judith
- 1985 Swimming to Cambodia
- 1985 Rivkala's Ring (in Orchards)
- 1986 Sex and Death to the Age 14
- 1987 In Search of the Monkey Girl
- 1992 Monster in a Box
- 1993 Impossible Vacation (novel)
- 1994 Gray's Anatomy
- 1997 It's a Slippery Slope
- 1999 Morning, Noon and Night
- 2005 Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue
[edit] External links
- Spalding Gray at the Internet Movie Database
- Remembering Spalding Gray – Fresh Air Audio Archives (NPR)
- Overview of Spalding Gray's Work
- Website and Homage from the Estate of Spalding Grey
- Body of writer, actor found in East River (CNN)
- Swimming to Cambodia by Josh Woodward A song about Spalding Gray's death
- Gray Matters A journalist recalls his last interaction with Spalding.
- Vanishing Act New York Magazine article, February 2, 2004
- [2] Songfight page: Spalding Gray Is Missing.
