Spalding Gray
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.
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (46)
Real Life
as Earl Culver
2018
Rumstick Road
as Self (archive footage)
2014
And Everything Is Going Fine
as Self (archive footage)
2010
Revolution #9
as Scooter McCrae
2002
Confessions of a Sociopath
as Himself
2002
Kate & Leopold
as Dr. Geisler
2001
How High
as Prof. Jackson
2001
Julie Johnson
as Mr. Tom Miranda
2001
Yesterday's Tomorrows
as Self
1999
Coming Soon
as Mr. Jennings
1999
Bliss
as Alfred
1997
Drunks
as Louis
1997
Gray's Anatomy
as Spalding Gray
1996
Diabolique
as Simon Veatch
1996
Glory Daze
as Jack's Dad
1995
Beyond Rangoon
as Jeremy Watt
1995
Bad Company
as Walter Curl
1995
The Paper
as Paul Bladden
1994
Zelda
as Sayre
1993
Twenty Bucks
as Priest
1993
King of the Hill
as Mr. Mungo
1993
The Pickle
as Doctor
1993
Monster in a Box
as Self
1992
Straight Talk
as Dr. Erdman
1992
To Save a Child
1991
Laurie Anderson: The Collected Videos
as The Talk Show Host
1991
The Image
as Frank Goodrich
1990
Heavy Petting
as Self
1989
Our Town
as Stage Manager
1989
Beaches
as Dr. Richard Milstein
1988
Clara's Heart
as Peter Epstein
1988
Stars & Bars
as Reverend T.J. Cardew
1988
Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure
as Spalding Gray
1987
Swimming to Cambodia
as Spalding Gray
1987
True Stories
as Earl Culver
1986
What You Mean We?
as Talk show host
1986
Seven Minutes in Heaven
as Dr. Rodney
1986
Almost You
as Travel Agent
1985
Variety
as Obscene Phone Caller (voice)
1985
Hard Choices
as Terry Norfolk
1985
Spalding Gray: A Life in Progress
as Himself
1985
The Killing Fields
as U.S. Consul
1984
Spalding Gray's Map of L.A.
as Spalding Gray
1984
Double Lunar Dogs
1984
Sex and Death to the Age 14
as Himself
1982
A Personal History of the American Theater
as Himself
1982
