Spalding Gray
Encyclopedia
Spalding Rockwell Gray was an American
actor
, playwright
, screenwriter
, performance artist and monologuist. He was primarily known for his "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP
, quiet mania." Gray achieved celebrity for writing and acting in the play Swimming to Cambodia
, adapted into a film in 1987.
He began his career in regional theatre, moved to New York in 1967 and three years later joined Richard Schechner
's experimental troupe, the Performance Group. He co-founded the Wooster Group ensemble in 1975. He died in New York City of an apparent suicide. A documentary film about his life, entitled And Everything Is Going Fine
, was released in 2010 and is directed by Steven Soderbergh
.
, to Rockwell Gray, Sr., the treasurer of Brown & Sharpe
, and Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" Horton, a homemaker. He was the middle-born of three sons: Rockwell, Jr., Spalding and Channing. He was raised in the Christian Scientist faith and grew up in Barrington, Rhode Island
, spending summers at his grandmother's house in Newport
.
After graduating from Fryeburg Academy
in Fryeburg, Maine, he enrolled at Emerson College
as a poetry major, where he earned his B.A.
in 1963.
In 1965, Gray moved to San Francisco and became a speaker and teacher of poetry at the Esalen Institute
. In 1967, while Gray was vacationing in Mexico City
, his mother committed suicide at the age of 62. After his mother's death, Gray moved away from the west coast and permanently settled in New York City
.
Gray's books Impossible Vacation and Sex and Death to the Age 14 are largely based on his childhood and early adulthood.
from Rhode Island who portrays himself as an innocent abroad in a crazy contemporary world. . . others, like Mike Feder, who grew up in Queens and began telling his life on New York radio, pride themselves on their theatrical minimalism, and simply sit and talk. Audiences come to autobiography for direct connection and great stories, both sometimes hard to find in today's theatre."
After starring in some supporting actor movie roles, such as in The Killing Fields, and television parts, including Saturday Night Live
, Gray first achieved national prominence with his play Swimming to Cambodia
, which he wrote in 1985 and filmed in 1987. It was a monologue based entirely on his experiences in Southeast Asia
while filming a small part in the 1984 movie The Killing Fields. For his play, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
and the National Book Award
in 1985.
Aside from his more well-known monologues, Gray was a founding member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group
, and appeared in a large number of plays, including a high-profile revival of Thornton Wilder
's Our Town
. In the 1980s and 1990s, Gray performed his monologues frequently at The Painted Bride in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He appeared there yearly, and the admission price was always nominal for the time. It was believed that he kept the admission low, as The Painted Bride had provided a venue for his early performances. He read from Swimming To Cambodia as a work in progress at The Bride.
, describing Gray, called him "Spalding the storyteller... Spalding the mystical. Spalding the hilarious. Spalding the self-exposed, the professionally puzzled, the scared, the brave. Spalding the supporting actor. That's what he was in the movies. But as a writer and a stage performer, he changed the idea of what a supporting actor is. He supported us... He played our part...
In 1992, 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 with the book entitled Monster in a Box
.
During an interview in 1997 with film author Edward Vilga, Gray was asked whether the movie industry was "confused" by his writings and roles: He replied,
Director Jonathan Demme
said of Gray, "Spalding's unfailing ability to ignite universal emotions and laughter in all of us while gloriously wallowing in his own exquisite uniqueness will remain forever one of the great joys of American performance and literature."
"He took the anarchy and illogic of life and molded it into something we could grab a hold of," said actor and novelist Eric Bogosian
. "It took courage to do what Spalding did, courage to make theatre so naked and unadorned, to expose himself in this way and to fight his demons in public."
. "In the crash, Gray, who had always battled his hereditary depression and bipolar tendencies, suffered a badly broken hip, leaving his right leg almost immobilized, and a fracture in his skull that left a jagged scar on his forehead. He now suffered not only from depression but also from a brain injury. During surgery in which a titanium plate was placed over the break in his skull, surgeons removed dozens of bone fragments from his frontal cortex. Shattered both physically and emotionally, he spent the ensuing months experimenting with every therapy imaginable.
Among those from whom Gray sought treatment was Oliver Sacks
, a well-known neurologist. Sacks began seeing Gray as a patient in August 2003 and continued to do so until almost the time of his death. In an article by Gaby Wood published on the first anniversary of Gray's disappearance, Sacks proposed that Gray perceived the taking of his own life as part of what he had to say: "On several occasions he talked about what he called 'a creative suicide.' On one occasion, when he was being interviewed, he thought that the interview might be culminated with a 'dramatic and creative suicide.'" Sacks added, "I was at pains to say that he would be much more creative alive than dead."
On January 9, 2004, Gray did take part in a final interview. The subject of this interview was not Spalding Gray but Ron Vawter
, a deceased friend and colleague whom Gray met in the winter of 1972-73. Gray and Vawter worked closely together throughout the 1970s, first with The Performance Group (founded by Richard Schechner), then as core members of The Wooster Group
(founded by Gray and Elizabeth LeCompte
). The edited transcript of "Spalding Gray's Last Interview" has been published in New England Theatre Journal.
On January 10, 2004, Gray, suffering from increasingly deep episodes of clinical depression
in part as a result of his 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."
When Gray was first declared missing, his profile was featured on the Fox Network show America's Most Wanted
.
On March 7, 2004, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York reported that Gray's body was discovered by two men and pulled from the East River
. One of the men subsequently gave an interview providing details of the accidental discovery. It is believed that Gray jumped off the side of the Staten Island Ferry
. In light of a suicide attempt in 2002, and the fact that his mother had killed herself 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 buried at Oakland Cemetery in Sag Harbor, New York
. He was survived by his wife Kathie Russo, stepdaughter Marissa, two sons, Forrest Dylan Gray (a.k.a. "Forrest Fire Gray"), and Theo Spalding Gray, and brothers Channing and Rockwell Gray.
Gray's voice is still being heard through the resurrection of his journal entries in the 2007 play Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City. The concept for this play was derived by Gray's widow. The show includes a cast of four actors as well as one revolving cast member. As of 2010, the show still tours on a limited basis in the U.S.
In January 2010, Steven Soderbergh
's documentary, And Everything Is Going Fine
, was released at Utah's Slamdance Film Festival
. The film was compiled from film and video clips of Gray's early life and career. Ms. Russo, Gray's widow, stated, "Steven told me that he wanted Spalding to tell the story, as if it was his last monologue, and I think he accomplished that."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, performance artist and monologuist. He was primarily known for his "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
, quiet mania." Gray achieved celebrity for writing and acting in the play Swimming to Cambodia
Swimming to Cambodia
Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 Jonathan Demme-directed performance film. The film is a performance of Spalding Gray's monologue which centered around such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in The Killing Fields, the Cold War,...
, adapted into a film in 1987.
He began his career in regional theatre, moved to New York in 1967 and three years later joined Richard Schechner
Richard Schechner
Richard Schechner is Professor of Performance Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University , editor of TDR: The Drama Review, and artistic director of East Coast Artists. His BA is from Cornell University , MA from the University of Iowa , and PhD from Tulane University...
's experimental troupe, the Performance Group. He co-founded the Wooster Group ensemble in 1975. He died in New York City of an apparent suicide. A documentary film about his life, entitled And Everything Is Going Fine
And Everything Is Going Fine
And Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of the late monologuist Spalding Gray. It premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival...
, was released in 2010 and is directed by Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
.
Early life
Gray was born in Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, to Rockwell Gray, Sr., the treasurer of Brown & Sharpe
Brown & Sharpe
Brown & Sharpe is a division of Hexagon Metrology, Inc., a multinational corporation focused mainly on metrological tools and technology. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Brown & Sharpe was one of the most well-known and influential firms in the machine tool industry...
, and Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" Horton, a homemaker. He was the middle-born of three sons: Rockwell, Jr., Spalding and Channing. He was raised in the Christian Scientist faith and grew up in Barrington, Rhode Island
Barrington, Rhode Island
Barrington is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,310 at the 2010 census.In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Barrington sixth on its list of the 100 best places to live in the United States.-History:...
, spending summers at his grandmother's house in Newport
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
.
After graduating from Fryeburg Academy
Fryeburg Academy
Fryeburg Academy, founded 1792, is one of the oldest private schools in the United States. It is located in Fryeburg, Maine. One of the first headmasters was Daniel Webster, who taught at the school for a year....
in Fryeburg, Maine, he enrolled at Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
as a poetry major, where he earned his B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1963.
In 1965, Gray moved to San Francisco and became a speaker and teacher of poetry at the Esalen Institute
Esalen Institute
Esalen Institute is a residential community and retreat in Big Sur, California, which focuses upon humanistic alternative education. Esalen is a nonprofit organization devoted to activites such as meditation, massage, Gestalt, yoga, psychology, ecology, and spirituality...
. In 1967, while Gray was vacationing in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, his mother committed suicide at the age of 62. After his mother's death, Gray moved away from the west coast and permanently settled in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Gray's books Impossible Vacation and Sex and Death to the Age 14 are largely based on his childhood and early adulthood.
Career
Theatre historian Don Wilmeth noted Gray's contribution to a unique style of writing and acting: "The 1980s saw the rise of the autobiographical monologue, its leading practitioner Spalding Gray, the WASPWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
from Rhode Island who portrays himself as an innocent abroad in a crazy contemporary world. . . others, like Mike Feder, who grew up in Queens and began telling his life on New York radio, pride themselves on their theatrical minimalism, and simply sit and talk. Audiences come to autobiography for direct connection and great stories, both sometimes hard to find in today's theatre."
After starring in some supporting actor movie roles, such as in The Killing Fields, and television parts, including Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, Gray first achieved national prominence with his play Swimming to Cambodia
Swimming to Cambodia
Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 Jonathan Demme-directed performance film. The film is a performance of Spalding Gray's monologue which centered around such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in The Killing Fields, the Cold War,...
, which he wrote in 1985 and filmed in 1987. It was a monologue based entirely on his experiences in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
while filming a small part in the 1984 movie The Killing Fields. For his play, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
and the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
in 1985.
Minimalism and monologues
Describing the uniqueness of the film-play monologue, theatre director Mark Russell wrote:- "He broke it all down to a table, a glass of water, a spiral notebook and a mic. Poor theatre—a man and an audience and a story. Spalding sitting at that table, speaking into the mic, calling forth the script of his life from his memory and those notebooks. A simple ritual: part news report, part confessional, part American raconteur. One man piecing his life back together, one memory, one true thing at a time. Like all genius things, it was a simple idea turned on its axis to become absolutely fresh and radical."
Aside from his more well-known monologues, Gray was a founding member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group
The Wooster Group
The Wooster Group is a New York City-based experimental theater company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. It gradually emerged during 1975-1980 from Richard Schechner's The Performance Group and took its name in 1980...
, and appeared in a large number of plays, including a high-profile revival of Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
's Our Town
Our Town
Our Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives...
. In the 1980s and 1990s, Gray performed his monologues frequently at The Painted Bride in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He appeared there yearly, and the admission price was always nominal for the time. It was believed that he kept the admission low, as The Painted Bride had provided a venue for his early performances. He read from Swimming To Cambodia as a work in progress at The Bride.
"Neurotic" and hilarious storyteller
Journalist and author Roger RosenblattRoger Rosenblatt
Roger Rosenblatt is an American journalist, author, playwright and teacher. He was a long-time columnist for Time magazine.-Career:...
, describing Gray, called him "Spalding the storyteller... Spalding the mystical. Spalding the hilarious. Spalding the self-exposed, the professionally puzzled, the scared, the brave. Spalding the supporting actor. That's what he was in the movies. But as a writer and a stage performer, he changed the idea of what a supporting actor is. He supported us... He played our part...
- "We tacitly elect a few to be the chief tellers of our tales. Spalding was one of the elected. The specialty of his storytelling was the search for a sorrow that could be alchemized into a myth. He went for the misery sufficiently deep to create a story that makes us laugh...
- "In so doing, he invented a form, a very rare thing among artists. Some called it the 'epic monologue' because first it was spoken and then it was written, like the old epics, and because it consisted of great and important themes drawn from the hero's life. ... And the one true heroic element in his makeup was the willingness to be open, rapidly open, about his confusions, his frailties."
In 1992, 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
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
background, and his mother's suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. True to form, Gray wrote a monologue about his experiences with the book entitled Monster in a Box
Monster in a Box
Monster in a Box is a monologue originally performed live on stage by the writer Spalding Gray then subsequently made into a 1992 film starring Gray and directed by Nick Broomfield....
.
During an interview in 1997 with film author Edward Vilga, Gray was asked whether the movie industry was "confused" by his writings and roles: He replied,
-
- "I would say that my major problem with Hollywood is this—I sometimes paraphrase Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
—Bob Dylan says 'I may look like Robert FrostRobert FrostRobert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, but I feel just like Jesse JamesJesse JamesJesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...
.' I say 'I may look like a gynecologist, an American ambassador's aide, or a lawyer, but I feel like Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
.' ...
- "I would say that my major problem with Hollywood is this—I sometimes paraphrase Bob Dylan
-
- "My insides are not what my outsides are. I'm not who I appear to be. I appear to be a WaspWaspThe term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
BrahminBrahminBrahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
, but I'm really a sort of neurotic, perverse New York Jew. When I was performing one year ago at this time in Israel, a review came out in Hebrew about Monster in a Box, and it read, 'Spalding Gray is funny, sometimes hilarious, wonderfully neurotic for a non-Jew.' Only the Jews can say something like 'wonderfully neurotic.'"
- "My insides are not what my outsides are. I'm not who I appear to be. I appear to be a Wasp
Director Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
said of Gray, "Spalding's unfailing ability to ignite universal emotions and laughter in all of us while gloriously wallowing in his own exquisite uniqueness will remain forever one of the great joys of American performance and literature."
"He took the anarchy and illogic of life and molded it into something we could grab a hold of," said actor and novelist Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
. "It took courage to do what Spalding did, courage to make theatre so naked and unadorned, to expose himself in this way and to fight his demons in public."
Personal life and death
In June 2001, he suffered severe injuries in a car crash while on vacation in IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. "In the crash, Gray, who had always battled his hereditary depression and bipolar tendencies, suffered a badly broken hip, leaving his right leg almost immobilized, and a fracture in his skull that left a jagged scar on his forehead. He now suffered not only from depression but also from a brain injury. During surgery in which a titanium plate was placed over the break in his skull, surgeons removed dozens of bone fragments from his frontal cortex. Shattered both physically and emotionally, he spent the ensuing months experimenting with every therapy imaginable.
Among those from whom Gray sought treatment was Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE , is a British neurologist and psychologist residing in New York City. He is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, where he also holds the position of Columbia Artist...
, a well-known neurologist. Sacks began seeing Gray as a patient in August 2003 and continued to do so until almost the time of his death. In an article by Gaby Wood published on the first anniversary of Gray's disappearance, Sacks proposed that Gray perceived the taking of his own life as part of what he had to say: "On several occasions he talked about what he called 'a creative suicide.' On one occasion, when he was being interviewed, he thought that the interview might be culminated with a 'dramatic and creative suicide.'" Sacks added, "I was at pains to say that he would be much more creative alive than dead."
On January 9, 2004, Gray did take part in a final interview. The subject of this interview was not Spalding Gray but Ron Vawter
Ron Vawter
Ron Vawter was an American actor and a founding member of the experimental theater company, The Wooster Group....
, a deceased friend and colleague whom Gray met in the winter of 1972-73. Gray and Vawter worked closely together throughout the 1970s, first with The Performance Group (founded by Richard Schechner), then as core members of The Wooster Group
The Wooster Group
The Wooster Group is a New York City-based experimental theater company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. It gradually emerged during 1975-1980 from Richard Schechner's The Performance Group and took its name in 1980...
(founded by Gray and Elizabeth LeCompte
Elizabeth LeCompte
Elizabeth LeCompte is a founding member and the theater director of experimental theater collective The Wooster Group .-Biography:...
). The edited transcript of "Spalding Gray's Last Interview" has been published in New England Theatre Journal.
On January 10, 2004, Gray, suffering from increasingly deep episodes of clinical depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
in part as a result of his injuries, was declared missing. The night before his disappearance, he had seen Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
's film Big Fish
Big Fish
Big Fish is a 2003 American fantasy adventure film based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. The film was directed by Tim Burton and stars Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange and Marion Cotillard. Finney plays Edward Bloom, a former traveling salesman from...
, 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."
When Gray was first declared missing, his profile was featured on the Fox Network show America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...
.
On March 7, 2004, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York reported that Gray's body was discovered by two men and pulled from the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
. One of the men subsequently gave an interview providing details of the accidental discovery. It is believed that Gray jumped off the side of the Staten Island Ferry
Staten Island Ferry
The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry service operated by the New York City Department of Transportation that runs between the boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island.-Overview:...
. In light of a suicide attempt in 2002, and the fact that his mother had killed herself 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 buried at Oakland Cemetery in Sag Harbor, New York
Sag Harbor, New York
Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, with parts in both the Towns of East Hampton and Southampton. The population was 2,313 at the 2000 census....
. He was survived by his wife Kathie Russo, stepdaughter Marissa, two sons, Forrest Dylan Gray (a.k.a. "Forrest Fire Gray"), and Theo Spalding Gray, and brothers Channing and Rockwell Gray.
Posthumous works
In 2005, Gray's unfinished final monologue was published in a hardcover edition entitled Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue. Running 39 pages, the monologue — which Gray had performed 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.Gray's voice is still being heard through the resurrection of his journal entries in the 2007 play Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City. The concept for this play was derived by Gray's widow. The show includes a cast of four actors as well as one revolving cast member. As of 2010, the show still tours on a limited basis in the U.S.
In January 2010, Steven Soderbergh
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
's documentary, And Everything Is Going Fine
And Everything Is Going Fine
And Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of the late monologuist Spalding Gray. It premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival...
, was released at Utah's Slamdance Film Festival
Slamdance Film Festival
As a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent in the film industry; it is also the only major film festival fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance counts among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the...
. The film was compiled from film and video clips of Gray's early life and career. Ms. Russo, Gray's widow, stated, "Steven told me that he wanted Spalding to tell the story, as if it was his last monologue, and I think he accomplished that."
Movies written and performed by Spalding Gray
- Swimming to CambodiaSwimming to CambodiaSpalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 Jonathan Demme-directed performance film. The film is a performance of Spalding Gray's monologue which centered around such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in The Killing Fields, the Cold War,...
(1987) - Spalding Gray: Terrors of PleasureSpalding Gray: Terrors of PleasureSpalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure is a 1988 filming of a monologue written and performed by Spalding Gray.In it, he chronicles the adventures he shared with his girlfriend, Renee, in the Catskills...
(1988) - Monster in a BoxMonster in a BoxMonster in a Box is a monologue originally performed live on stage by the writer Spalding Gray then subsequently made into a 1992 film starring Gray and directed by Nick Broomfield....
(1991) - Gray's Anatomy (1996)
- And Everything Is Going FineAnd Everything Is Going FineAnd Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of the late monologuist Spalding Gray. It premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival...
(2010)
Actor
- Cowards (1970)
- Love-In '72 (1972)
- The Farmer's Daughters (1976)
- Little Orphan Dusty (Uncredited, 1976)
- Maraschino Cherry (Uncredited, 1978)
- The Killing Fields (1984)
- Hard Choices (1985)
- The Communists Are Comfortable (1985)
- Almost You (1985)
- Seven Minutes in HeavenSeven Minutes in Heaven (film)Seven Minutes in Heaven is a 1985 teen film directed by Linda Feferman, starring Jennifer Connelly in one of her first roles.-Plot:Natalie allows her classmate Jeff , who ran away from home after a fight with his stepfather , to stay at her place while her father is away on a business trip...
(1985) - True StoriesTrue Stories (film)True Stories is an American film that spans the genres of musical, art, and comedy, directed by and starring David Byrne of the band Talking Heads. It co-stars John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Spalding Gray. Byrne has described the film as, "A project with songs based on true stories from tabloid...
(1986) - BeachesBeaches (film)Beaches , is a 1988 American comedy-drama film adapted by Mary Agnes Donoghue from the Iris Rainer Dart novel of the same name...
(1988) - Stars and BarsStars and Bars (film)Stars and Bars is an American comedy film released in 1988, directed by Pat O'Connor and based on a book by William Boyd. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Henderson Dores.-Plot:...
(1988) - Clara's HeartClara's HeartClara's Heart is a 1988 American film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Kathleen Quinlan and Michael Ontkean. It was directed by Robert Mulligan and written by Mark Medoff, based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Joseph Olshan.-Plot:...
(1988) - Heavy Petting (1989)
- The Image (1990)
- To Save a Child (1991)
- Straight TalkStraight TalkStraight Talk is an 1992 American comedy-film distributed by Hollywood Pictures, directed by Barnet Kellman and starring Dolly Parton and James Woods. Parton did not receive star-billing in any other theatrically-released films until the 2012 film Joyful Noise, alongside Queen Latifah...
(1992) - King of the HillKing of the Hill (film)King of the Hill is a 1993 film, Steven Soderbergh's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:Based on the...
(1993) - ZeldaZelda (film)Zelda is a 1993 television movie based on the lives of author F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda Fitzgerald, artist and fellow author....
(1993) - Twenty BucksTwenty BucksTwenty Bucks is a 1993 film that follows the travels of a $20 bill from a crisp new note from the ATM in downtown Minneapolis through various transactions and incidents from person to person through the city....
(1993) - The PickleThe PickleThe Pickle is a 1993 film produced, written, and directed by Paul Mazursky, telling the story of a formerly powerful film director whose recent string of flops has forced him to make a commercial piece that is artistically uninspired...
(1993) - The PaperThe PaperThe Paper is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard and starring Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, and Glenn Close. The film depicts 24 hours in a newspaper editor's professional and personal life.-Plot:...
(1994) - Beyond RangoonBeyond RangoonBeyond Rangoon is a 1995 drama film directed by John Boorman about Laura Bowman , an American tourist who vacations in Burma in 1988, the year in which the 8888 Uprising takes place...
(1995) - Bad CompanyBad Company (1995 film)Bad Company is a 1995 neo-noir thriller film directed by Damian Harris and written by Ross Thomas.The film stars Ellen Barkin and Laurence Fishburne as former CIA operatives engaging in a dubious romance while plotting to murder their boss, played by Frank Langella, and take over his firm, which...
(1995) - Drunks (1995)
- Glory DazeGlory DazeGlory Daze is an independent film starring Ben Affleck, Sam Rockwell, French Stewart and Alyssa Milano. It had a limited release in 1996.- Plot :...
(1996) - Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out LoudBuckminster Fuller: Thinking Out LoudBuckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud is a PBS 'American Masters' TV documentary on the inventor/visionary/thinker R. Buckminster Fuller, produced and directed by four time Academy Award nominees Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon...
(1996) - DiaboliqueDiabolique (1996 film)Diabolique is an American film directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik and written by Henri-Georges Clouzot and Don Roos. The film stars Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani...
(1996) - Bliss (1997)
- Coming Soon (1999)
- The Best Man (play)The Best Man (play)The Best Man is a 1960 play by American playwright Gore Vidal. The play premiered on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on March 31, 1960, and ran for 520 performances before closing on July 8, 1961.Vidal adapted it into a film with the same title in 1964....
(2000) - Revolution #9 (2001)
- Julie JohnsonJulie JohnsonJulie Johnson is a 2001 drama film directed and written by Wendy Hammond and Bob Gosse. It was shown at several film festivals worldwide between 2001 and 2004.-Plot:...
(2001) - How HighHow HighHow High is a 2001 stoner comedy starring Method Man and Redman, written by Dustin Lee Abraham, and director Jesse Dylan's debut feature film. Entertainment Weekly rated it third in their "Best Stoner Movie" top ten list...
(2001) - Kate and Leopold (2001)
- The Paper Mache Chase (2003)
- And Everything Is Going FineAnd Everything Is Going FineAnd Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of the late monologuist Spalding Gray. It premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival...
(2010)
Television
- Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
(1 episode, 1977) - Spenser: For HireSpenser: For HireSpenser: For Hire is a mystery television series based on Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder, differs from the novels, mostly in its lesser degree of detail....
(1 episode, 1987) - Trying Times (1 episode, 1987)
- The NannyThe Nanny (TV series)The Nanny is an American television sitcom co-produced by Sternin & Fraser Ink, Inc., and Fran Drescher in association with TriStar Television for the CBS network...
(9 episodes, 1997–1998) - The Mike O'Malley ShowThe Mike O'Malley ShowThe Mike O'Malley Show is an American sitcom on NBC that aired only two episodes. The series star, Mike O'Malley, created and executive produced the series with Les Firestein.-Synopsis:...
(1 episode, 1999)
External links
- Scene from Swimming to Cambodia video, 5 minutes
- Remembering Spalding Gray – Fresh Air Audio Archives (NPR)
- Overview of Spalding Gray's Work
- Official Website from the Estate of Spalding Gray
- Spalding Gray's Last Interview, Theresa Smalec, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art Jan 2008, Vol. 30, No. 1, (PAJ 88): 1–14.
- Audio Interview with Mr. Gray, recorded 1996 conducted by Douglas Ordunio