Spalding Gray
Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 - about January 10, 2004) was a U.S. actor, screenwriter and playwright. He was best known for his performance monologues, which deal with events from his own life in a style characterised by humour, paranoia and acute self-consciousness.
After a few minor cinema roles and appearing in a number of forgettable pornographic films with titles like The Farmer's Daughter and Little Orphan Dusty, 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.
In June 2001 he suffered severe injuries in a car crash whilst on holiday in Ireland. January 2004, Gray, known to suffer bouts of depression in part as a result of these injuries, was declared missing. On March 7, 2004, the New York City medical examiner's office reported that at 15:00 Spalding Gray's body had been pulled from the East River. 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.
Below is a chronological filmography.
- 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
- 1996 Diabolique – Actor: Simon Veatch
- 1996 Gray's Anatomy – Screenwriter
- 1996 Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud
- 1996 Glory Daze
- 1996 Bliss – Actor: Alfred
- 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
- 1993 King of the Hill – Actor: Mr. Mungo
- 1992 Straight Talk – Actor: Dr. Erdman
- 1991 Monster in a Box – Actor: Himself; Also: Screenwriter
- 1991 To Save a Child – Actor: Hobart
- 1991 Spalding Gray: Monster in a Box
- 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 Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure
- 1988 Beaches – Actor: Dr. Richard Milstein
- 1987 Swimming to Cambodia – Actor: Himself; Also: Screenwriter
- 1986 Seven Minutes in Heaven – Actor: Dr. Rodney
- 1986 True Stories – Actor: Earl Culver
- 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
External links
- Remembering Spalding Gray – Fresh Air Audio Archives (http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1781976) (NPR)
- Body of writer, actor found in East River (http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/08/obit.gray/) (CNN)