Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – ca. January 10, 2004) was an American actor, screenwriter, performance artist, and playwright.
Best known for his monologue films Swimming to Cambodia (1987), Monster in a Box (1992) and Gray's Anatomy (1996) in which the sole action in the film is Spalding sitting at a microphone telling his stories.
All of Spalding Gray's monologues were initially performed in The Performing Garage in Soho in New York City and/or Lincoln Center in New York City before being set to film.
Graduated from Emerson College.
The directors of the filmed versions of Gray's monologues Swimming to Cambodia (1987), Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure (1988), Monster in a Box (1992) and Gray's Anatomy (1996) , are all considered to be of the first rank: respectively Jonathan Demme, Thomas Schlamme (multi Emmy-winning producer and director of "West Wing, The" (1999)), Nick Broomfield (renowned British documentary maker) and Steven Soderbergh.
Was reported missing on Sunday, January 10th, 2004. His body was found in the East River (New York) on 8 March 2004.
Suffered severe injuries in a 2001 automobile accident in Ireland. At the time of his disappearance in January 2004, it was reported that Gray had been working on a new monologue based upon his experience and recovery after the accident. According to some published reports, Gray suffered from depression which intensified after the accident.
His mother committed suicide in 1967 and Gray sometimes referred in his dialogs to a desire to do the same.
Was claustrophobic.
Said that only his children could make him laugh
Had two sons with Kathleen Russo: Forrest and Theo
His depression worsened when his family moved from the house he loved in Sag Harbor to one he hated in New Haven.
Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, vol. 138, pages 184-190. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.
