Spalding Gray
- Acting
- June 5, 1941 · Providence, Rhode Island, USA
- January 11, 2004
Biography
Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – January 11, 2004) was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist. He is best known for the autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for the theater in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as for his film adaptations of these works, beginning in 1987. He wrote and starred in several, working with different directors. Theater critics John Willis and Ben Hodges called Gray's monologues "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP, quiet mania." Gray achieved renown for his monologue Swimming to Cambodia, which he adapted as a 1987 film in which he starred; it was directed by Jonathan Demme. Other of his monologues that he adapted for film were Monster in a Box (1991), directed by Nick Broomfield, and Gray's Anatomy (1996), directed by Steven Soderbergh. Gray died by suicide at the age of 62 after jumping into New York Harbor on January 11, 2004. He had been struggling with depression and severe injuries following a car accident. Soderbergh made a documentary film about Gray's life, And Everything Is Going Fine (2010). An unfinished monologue and a selection from his journals were published in 2005 and 2011, respectively. Description above from the Wikipedia article Spalding Gray, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
Filmography
- Real Life · Earl Culver
- Rumstick Road · Self, Writer
- And Everything Is Going Fine · Self
- Revolution #9 · Scooter McCrae
- Confessions of a Sociopath · Self
- Kate & Leopold · Dr. Geisler
- How High · Prof. Jackson
- Julie Johnson · Mr. Tom Miranda
- The Mike O'Malley Show
- Yesterday's Tomorrows · Self
- Coming Soon · Mr. Jennings
- Bliss · Alfred
- Drunks · Louis
- Gray's Anatomy · Spalding Gray, Writer
- Diabolique · Simon Veatch
- Glory Daze · Jack's Dad
- Beyond Rangoon · Jeremy Watt
- Bad Company · Walter Curl
- The Paper · Paul Bladden
- Zelda · Sayre
- The Nanny · Dr. Miller
- Twenty Bucks · Priest
- King of the Hill · Mr. Mungo
- The Pickle · Doctor
- Monster in a Box · Self, Writer
- Straight Talk · Dr. Erdman
- To Save a Child
- Laurie Anderson: The Collected Videos · The Talk Show Host
- The Image · Frank Goodrich
- Heavy Petting · Self
- Our Town · Stage Manager
- Beaches · Dr. Richard Milstein
- Clara's Heart · Peter Epstein
- Stars & Bars · Reverend T.J. Cardew
- Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure · Spalding Gray, Writer
- Swimming to Cambodia · Self, Writer
- True Stories · Earl Culver
- What You Mean We? · Talk show host
- Seven Minutes in Heaven · Dr. Rodney
- Spenser: For Hire
- Alive from Off Center · Self, Talk Show Host (Voice)
- Almost You · Travel Agent
- Variety · Obscene Phone Caller (Voice), Voice on answering machine (Voice)
- Hard Choices · Terry Norfolk
- Spalding Gray: A Life in Progress · Self, Writer
- The Killing Fields · U.S. Consul
- Gray Areas · Self, Writer
- Spalding Gray's Map of L.A. · Spalding Gray, Writer
- Double Lunar Dogs
- Sex and Death to the Age 14 · Self, Writer
- A Personal History of the American Theater · Self, Writer
- Anybody's Woman
- Spalding Gray at Hallwalls · Self
- Saturday Night Live · Narrator of 'Brides' (voice) (uncredited)
- Prisoner's Dilemma · Spalding Gray
- Great Performances · Stage Manager
- Love-In '72 · Radical at Party
- Thirty Second Spots: TV Commercials for Artists (1982-83) · Spalding Gray