Spalding Gray

Spalding Gray

  • Birthday: 1941-06-05
  • Deathday: 2004-01-11
  • Place of birth: Providence, Rhode Island, USA
  • Also know as: Spalding Grey

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.

Filmography

Gray's Anatomy

1996

As Self

Monster in a Box

1992

As Self

And Everything Is Going Fine

2010

As Self (archive footage)

Our Town

1989

As Stage Manager

Rumstick Road

2014

As Self (archive footage)

What You Mean We?

1986

As Talk show host

Drunks

1997

As Louis

Zelda

1993

As Sayre

Revolution #9

2002

As Scooter McCrae

Beyond Rangoon

1995

As Jeremy Watt

Beaches

1988

As Dr. Richard Milstein

Diabolique

1996

As Simon Veatch

True Stories

1986

As Earl Culver

King of the Hill

1993

As Mr. Mungo

Clara's Heart

1988

As Peter Epstein

Bliss

1997

As Alfred

The Killing Fields

1984

As U.S. Consul

The Image

1990

As Frank Goodrich

Hard Choices

1985

As Terry Norfolk

Heavy Petting

1989

As Self

Julie Johnson

2001

As Mr. Tom Miranda

Kate & Leopold

2001

As Dr. Geisler

Straight Talk

1992

As Dr. Erdman

Stars & Bars

1988

As Reverend T.J. Cardew

Bad Company

1995

As Walter Curl

Seven Minutes in Heaven

1986

As Dr. Rodney

Variety

1985

As Voice on answering machine (voice)

Love-In '72

1970

As Radical at Party

The Paper

1994

As Paul Bladden

Coming Soon

1999

As Mr. Jennings

Almost You

1985

As Travel Agent

How High

2001

As Prof. Jackson

Glory Daze

1995

As Jack's Dad

The Pickle

1993

As Doctor

Variety

1985

As Obscene Phone Caller (voice)

Twenty Bucks

1993

As Priest

The Farmer's Daughters

1976

As George

Maraschino Cherry

1978

As Penny's Client with Beard (uncredited)

Production

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