Editing Spalding Gray

{{Short description|American actor and writer  (1941–2004)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Spalding Gray
| image         = Early gray.jpg 
| caption       = Gray at the [[Performing Garage]] (1979–81). Photograph by Gary Schoichet.
| alt           =
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1941|6|5}}
| birth_name    =
| birth_place   = [[Providence, Rhode Island]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|2004|1|11|1941|6|5}}
| death_place   = [[New York City]], U.S.
| resting_place = [[Oakland Cemetery (Sag Harbor, New York)|Oakland Cemetery]]<br />[[Sag Harbor, New York]], U.S.
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| children      = 2
| years active  = 1960s–2003
| occupation    = {{Hlist|Actor|novelist|playwright|screenwriter|performance artist}}
| spouse        = {{Plain list|
* {{Marriage|[[Renée Shafransky]]|1991|1993|end=div}}
* {{Marriage|Kathleen Russo|1994}}
}}
}}

'''Spalding Gray''' (June 5, 1941 – {{Circa|January 11, 2004}}) was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and [[performance artist]]. He is best known for the autobiographical [[One-person show|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 A. Willis|John Willis]] and Ben Hodges called Gray's monologues "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestant|WASP]], quiet mania."<ref>[[John A. Willis|Willis, John]]; Hodges, Ben (2006). ''Theatre World: Volume 60''. [[Hal Leonard Corporation]].</ref>{{rp|316}} 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 (film)|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.

==Early life==
Spalding Rockwell Gray was born in [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], Rhode Island, to Rockwell Gray Sr., the treasurer of [[Brown & Sharpe]], and Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" ({{nee}} Horton) Gray. He was the second of three sons; his brothers were Rockwell Jr. and Channing. They were raised in their mother's [[Christian Science]] faith. Gray and his brothers grew up in [[Barrington, Rhode Island|Barrington]], Rhode Island, spending summers at their grandmother's house in [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], Rhode Island. Rockwell became a literature professor at [[Washington University in St. Louis]], and Channing a journalist in Rhode Island.<ref name="NYmag2"/> After graduating from [[Fryeburg Academy]] in [[Fryeburg, Maine]], Gray enrolled at [[Emerson College]] in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], as a poetry major. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963. In 1965, Gray moved to [[San Francisco]], [[California]], where he 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 age 52. She had suffered from depression.<ref name="gaby">{{cite news| last = Gaby | first = Wood | title = Shades of Gray | work = [[The Observer]] | date =  December 26, 2004| url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/dec/26/1 | access-date = November 25, 2008}}</ref> After his mother's death, Gray returned to the East Coast and settled permanently in New York City. Gray's books ''[[Impossible Vacation]]'' and ''Sex and Death to the Age 14'' are largely based on his childhood<ref>{{cite web|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/22/books/books-of-the-times-that-spalding-gray-novel-isn-t-a-monster-after-all.html|author=Kakutani, Michiko|title=Books of The Times; That Spalding Gray Novel Isn't a Monster, After All|date=May 22, 1992|page=25}}</ref> and early adulthood.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.startribune.com/performance-spalding-gray-stories-left-to-tell/88267612|newspaper=[[Minnesota Star Tribune]]|title=Performance: 'Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell'|author=Preston, Rohan|date=August 17, 2012}}</ref>

==Career==
Gray began his theater career in New York in the late 1960s. In 1970, he joined [[Richard Schechner]]'s experimental troupe [[The Performance Group]]. With actors from The Performance Group, including [[Willem Dafoe]] and [[Elizabeth LeCompte]], Gray co-founded the theater company [[The Wooster Group]]. He worked with it from 1975 to 1980, before leaving the company to focus on his monologue work. During this time, he also appeared in [[adult film]]s, having a featured role in ''[[Farmer's Daughters]]'' (1976) and appearing in [[Radley Metzger]]'s ''Maraschino Cherry'' (1978).<ref name=SFWeekly>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2011/08/spalding_gray_monologist_racon.php |title=Here's to the Late Spalding Gray: Monologist. Raconteur. Porn Star.|first=Sherilyn|last=Connelly|work=[[SF Weekly]] |access-date=June 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/books/journals-of-spalding-gray-edited-by-nell-casey-review.html |title=Peering Beyond a Monologist's Stage Presence Into His Uncensored Mind|date=October 18, 2011|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=June 26, 2016}}</ref> He first attained prominence in the United States with the film version of his monologue ''[[Swimming to Cambodia]]''. He had performed this monologue in New York City and published it as a book in 1985. He adapted it as a film in 1987, directed by [[Jonathan Demme]]. It was based on Gray's experience in Thailand filming ''[[The Killing Fields (movie)|The Killing Fields]]'' (1984), in which he portrayed a U.S. consular official.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-21 |title=Review: Swimming to Cambodia – Spalding Gray's mesmerising monologue about a messed-up world - Reader's Digest |url=https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/film-tv/review-swimming-to-cambodia-spalding-grays-mesmerising-monologue-about-a-messed-up-world |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821030848/https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/film-tv/review-swimming-to-cambodia-spalding-grays-mesmerising-monologue-about-a-messed-up-world |archive-date=2020-08-21  |access-date=2022-07-24 }}</ref>

In 1987, he traveled to Nicaragua with [[Office of the Americas]]. He wrote an unproduced screenplay based on the experience. Some of his experiences there were documented in ''[[Monster in a Box]]''. He received a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] and the [[National Book Award]] in 1985 for this work. He continued to write and perform monologues until his death. Through 1993, these works often incorporated his relationship to his girlfriend [[Renée Shafransky]]. They married and she became his collaborator.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gray|first=Spalding|title=Monster in a Box|year=1992|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|location=New York City|isbn=0679737391|edition=A Vintage original, 1st|url=https://archive.org/details/monsterinbox00gray}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gray|first=Spalding|title=Gray's Anatomy|year=1994|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|location=New York City|isbn=0679751785|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/graysanatomy00gray}}</ref> He later married Kathleen Russo.

Gray's success with his monologues brought him various supporting movie roles. He also played the lead role of the Stage Manager in a high-profile 1988 revival of [[Thornton Wilder]]'s play ''[[Our Town]]'' at the [[Lincoln Center Theater]]. In 1992, Gray published his only novel, ''Impossible Vacation.'' The novel reflects elements of his life, including his mother's [[Christian Scientist]] beliefs,<ref>{{cite book|last=Gray|first=Spalding|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Mj9x23iWJQC&q=Gray's+life,+including+his+upbringing+as+a+Christian+Scientist,&pg=PA3|title=The Journals of Spalding Gray|date=October 2, 2012|publisher=Vintage Books|isbn=978-0-307-47491-9|language=en}}</ref> his [[White Anglo-Saxon Protestants|WASP]] background, and his mother's suicide. Gray wrote a subsequent monologue about his experiences writing ''Impossible Vacation'', which later became the film ''[[Monster in a Box]]''.<ref name=NY>{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0CE0DD143CF936A35755C0A964958260|title=A 'Monster' Dense With Meaning|author=Canby, Vincent|authorlink=Vincent Canby|newspaper=The New York Times|date=5 June 1992|archivedate=May 26, 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526052613/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/05/movies/review-film-a-monster-dense-with-meaning.html}}</ref>

During an interview in 1997 with film critic [[Edward Vilga]], Gray was asked whether the movie industry was "confused" by his writings and roles. He responded:
::I would say that my major problem with Hollywood is this—I sometimes paraphrase [[Bob Dylan]]—Bob Dylan says "I may look like [[Robert Ford (outlaw)|Robert Ford]], but I feel just like [[Jesse James]]." I say, "I may look like a gynecologist, an American ambassador's aide, or a lawyer, but I feel like [[Woody Allen]]." ... My insides are not what my outsides are. I'm not who I appear to be. I appear to be a [[Boston Brahmin|Wasp Brahmin]], 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."<ref>Vilga, Edward (1997). ''Acting Now: Conversations on Craft and Career''. [[Rutgers University Press]].</ref>{{rp|111}}

Gray's performance style relied upon an impressionistic use of memories rather than a recounting of chronological facts. Gray said his style of monologue resulted from a sort of "poetic journalism."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gentile|first1=John S.|title=Cast of One: One-Person Shows from the Chautauqua Platform to the Broadway Stage|url=https://archive.org/details/castofoneonepers00gent|url-access=registration|date=1989|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Champaign-Urbana|page=[https://archive.org/details/castofoneonepers00gent/page/150 150]|isbn=9780252015847}}</ref>

==Health problems and death==
In June 2001, Gray was severely injured in a car crash while on vacation in Ireland. In the crash, he suffered a broken hip, which left his right leg almost immobilized, and a fracture in his skull.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-03-12-0203120010-story.html | title=Spalding Gray's new reality | website=[[Chicago Tribune]] | date=March 12, 2002 }}</ref> During surgery on his skull, a [[Titanium#Medical|titanium]] plate was placed over the break after surgeons removed dozens of bone fragments from his [[Frontal lobe|frontal cortex]], leaving a jagged scar on his forehead. He struggled to recover from his injuries and a severe depression set in some time after the accident. He had already struggled intermittently with depression.<ref name="sacks">{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/27/the-catastrophe-oliver-sacks |last=Sacks |first=Oliver |author-link=Oliver Sacks |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |publisher=[[Condé Nast]] |title=The Catastrophe |date=April 27, 2015}}</ref> Suffering both from physical impairment and ongoing depression, Gray struggled for months and was treated with a variety of different therapies.<ref name="NYmag2">{{cite web | last = Williams | first = Alex  | title = Vanishing Act  | work = [[New York (magazine)|New York]]| date = February 2, 2004 | url = http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/n_9787/ | access-date = July 9, 2008}}</ref>

Gray sought treatment from [[neurologist]] [[Oliver Sacks]], who began treating him in August 2003 and continued to do so almost until Gray died. Sacks later said Gray perceived the taking of his own life as part of what he had to say, with the monologuist having "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.' I was at pains to say that he would be much more creative alive than dead."<ref name="sacks" />

On January 9, 2004, Gray had an interview with Theresa Smalec, the subject of which was [[Ron Vawter]], a deceased friend and colleague whom he had met in the winter of 1972–73. Gray and Vawter had worked closely together throughout the 1970s, first with The Performance Group, then as core members of The Wooster Group. The edited transcript of "Spalding Gray's Last Interview" was published in 2008 by the ''New England Theatre Journal''.<ref>{{cite web | last = Smalec | first = Theresa | title = Spalding Gray's Last Interview | work = New England Theatre Journal | year = 2008 | url = http://www.netconline.org/netc-publications.php | access-date = September 7, 2009}}</ref>

On January 11, 2004, Gray was declared missing. The night before, he had taken his children to see [[Tim Burton]]'s film ''[[Big Fish]].'' It 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, said after he disappeared, "You know, Spalding cried after he saw that movie. I just think it gave him permission. I think it gave him permission to die."<ref name="NYmag2" />

When Gray was first reported missing, his profile was featured on the Fox Network television show ''[[America's Most Wanted]].''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=25815 |title=Spalding Gray – Missing Person | work = [[America's Most Wanted]] |access-date= December 4, 2009}}</ref>

In early March 2004, Gray's body was found in the [[East River]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/09/nyregion/body-of-spalding-gray-found-monologuist-and-actor-was-62.html|title=Body of Spalding Gray Found; Monologuist and Actor Was 62|last=Dewan|first=Shaila|date=March 9, 2004|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|last2=McKinley|first2=Jesse|access-date=May 18, 2025}}</ref> It is believed that he jumped off the [[Staten Island Ferry]]. He had previously attempted suicide in 2002.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/08/obituaries/spalding-grays-body-is-found-2-months-after-disappearance.html?_r=0|title=Spalding Gray's Body Is Found 2 Months After Disappearance|agency=[[Associated Press]]|newspaper=The New York Times| date=March 8, 2004|access-date=March 2, 2017}}</ref> Gray was reported to have been working on a new monologue at the time of his death. There was speculation that his revisiting the material of the car crash in Ireland and his subsequent attempts to recover from his injuries might have triggered a final bout of depression.<ref name="NYmag2" />

Gray was buried at [[Oakland Cemetery (Sag Harbor, New York)|Oakland Cemetery]] in [[Sag Harbor, New York|Sag Harbor]], New York. He was survived by his wife Kathie Russo, stepdaughter Marissa, sons Forrest Dylan<ref>Forrest Dylan Gray</ref> and Theo Spalding Gray, and brothers Rockwell and Channing Gray.

===Legacy===
Theater historian Don Wilmeth noted Gray's contribution to a unique style of writing and acting: 
{{quote|The 1980s saw the rise of the autobiographical monologue, its leading practitioner Spalding Gray, the WASP 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.<ref>Wilmeth, Don B.; Miller, Tice L. (1996). ''Cambridge Guide to American Theatre''. [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref>{{rp|293}}}}

Describing the play-film monologue, theatre director Mark Russell wrote: 
{{quote|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."<ref name=Swimming/>}}

Journalist and author [[Roger Rosenblatt]] described Gray as 
{{quote|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."<ref name=Swimming>Gray, Spalding (2005). ''Swimming to Cambodia''. Theatre Communications Group.</ref>{{rp|Intro}} }}

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".<ref name=Swimming/>

"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."

Theater critic Mel Gussow wrote of Gray's ''Swimming to Cambodia'' and ''Terrors of Pleasure'', "Through a look or a comment, he offers intelligent analysis. Though the narrative is entirely centered around Mr. Gray himself, it never suffers from self-pity or self-indulgence. He remains the antihero in his own fascinating life story, the never ending tale of EverySpalding."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gussow|first1=Mel|title=Theatre: Spalding Gray. Review of Terrors of Pleasure, by Spalding Gray|work=The New York Times|date=May 15, 1986}}</ref>

===Posthumous works by and about him===
In 2005, Gray's unfinished final monologue was published in a hardcover edition titled ''Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue.'' The monologue, which Gray had performed in one of his last public appearances, is augmented by two additional pieces he 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.

The 2007 play ''Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell,'' produced at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City, is based on his monologues and journals. Kathleen Russo, his widow, developed the concept for the play.<ref name="brantley"/> The show has a cast of four actors as well as a rotating guest artist; all five read from selected portions of his work.<ref name="brantley">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/theater/reviews/07gray.html |author-link=Ben Brantley|first=Ben |last=Brantley |title=A Master of Monologues, Living on in His Words|work=The New York Times|date= March 7, 2007|access-date= February 19, 2017}}</ref>

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. Russo said that Soderbergh "wanted Spalding to tell the story, as if it was his last monologue, and I think he accomplished that".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/movies/17soderbergh.html |title=One Singular Auteur, Through Another|work=The New York Times|date= January 15, 2010}}</ref>

In 2011 a selection from his journals was published as ''The Journals of Spalding Gray,'' edited by Nell Casey, who had worked with Russo on the project.<ref name="rosenbaum">{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/books/review/the-journals-of-spalding-gray-edited-by-nell-casey-book-review.html |first=Ron|last= Rosenbaum|title= What Spalding Gray Left Us|work=The 'New York Times|date= October 28, 2011|access-date= February 19, 2017}}</ref> Dwight Garner found this material less interesting than Gray's monologues. He said they have value as a "portrait of a theatrical coming of age" as Gray determined how to make his art. Garner wrote, "His art, these journals make clear, is what kept him alive."<ref name="garner">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/books/journals-of-spalding-gray-edited-by-nell-casey-review.html?action=click&contentCollection=Sunday%20Book%20Review&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article |first=Dwight|last= Garner|title=Peering Beyond a Monologist's Stage Presence Into His Uncensored Mind| work=The New York Times|date= October 17, 2011|access-date= February 19, 2017}}</ref>

The 2016 season of the Independent Film Channel's mockumentary television series ''[[Documentary Now!]]'' includes the episode "Parker Gail's Location is Everything," a parody of Gray's ''[[Swimming to Cambodia]]''.<ref>{{Citation|title="Documentary Now!" Parker Gail's Location Is Everything (TV Episode 2016) - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5819980/fullcredits|access-date=June 22, 2019}}</ref> In it, [[Bill Hader]] delivers a monologue expressing his dismay at having to find a new loft apartment in New York City upon learning that his current residence will be converted into an electronics store.

==Filmography==

===Movies written and performed by Spalding Gray===
*''[[Swimming to Cambodia]]'' (1987)
*''[[Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure]]'' (1988)
*''[[Monster in a Box]]'' (1991)
*''[[Gray's Anatomy (film)|Gray's Anatomy]]'' (1996)
*''[[And Everything Is Going Fine]]'' (2010)
**In addition to the five theatrically released film versions of Gray's monologues, video recordings from 1982 of ''Sex and Death at the Age of 14'' and ''A Personal History of the American Theater'' were released by the [[Criterion Collection]] on the DVDs of ''And Everything Is Going Fine'' and ''Gray's Anatomy'', respectively.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

===Actor===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*''Cowards'' (1970, in a low-budget drama; it was later edited and released as an adult film, ''Love-In '72'') - Radical at Party
*''[[Farmer's Daughters]]'' (1976) - George
*''Little Orphan Dusty'' (1976) – Uncredited Extra
*''Maraschino Cherry'' (1978) – Uncredited<ref name=SFWeekly /> - Penny's Client with Beard (uncredited)
*''[[Variety (1983 film)|Variety]]'' (1983) - (Voice)
*''[[The Killing Fields (movie)|The Killing Fields]]'' (1984) - U.S. Consul
*''[[Almost You]]''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086876/ Almost You film page], IMDB, accessed February 1, 2020</ref> (1985) - Travel agent
*''[[Seven Minutes in Heaven (film)|Seven Minutes in Heaven]]'' (1985) - Dr. Rodney
*''[[Hard Choices (film)|Hard Choices]]''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091170/ Hard Choices film page], IMDB, accessed February 1, 2020</ref> (1985) - Terry Norfolk
*''The Communists Are Comfortable''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088945/ The Communists Are Comfortable film page], IMDB, accessed February 1, 2020</ref> (1985, Documentary)
*''[[True Stories (film)|True Stories]]'' (1986) - Earl Culver
*''[[Swimming to Cambodia]]'' (1987) - Himself
*''[[Stars and Bars (1988 film)|Stars and Bars]]'' (1988) - Reverend T.J. Cardew
*''[[Clara's Heart]]'' (1988) - Peter Epstein
*''[[Beaches (1988 film)|Beaches]]'' (1988) - Dr. Richard Milstein
*''Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure'' (1988) - Himself
*''[[Heavy Petting (1989 film)|Heavy Petting]]'' (1989, Documentary) - Himself
*''[[The Image (1990 film)|The Image]]''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099829/ The Image film page], IMDB, accessed February 1, 2020</ref> (1990, TV Movie) - Frank Goodrich
*''To Save a Child''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103096/ To Save a Child film page], IMDB, accessed February 1, 2020</ref> (1991, TV Movie) - Hobart
*''[[Straight Talk]]'' (1992) - Dr. David Erdman
*''[[Monster in a Box]]'' (1992) - Himself
*''[[Twenty Bucks]]'' (1993) - Priest
*''[[The Pickle]]'' (1993) - Doctor
*''[[King of the Hill (1993 film)|King of the Hill]]'' (1993) - Mr. Mungo
*''[[Zelda (film)|Zelda]]'' (1993, TV Movie) - Sayre
*''[[The Paper (film)|The Paper]]'' (1994) - Paul Bladden
*''[[Bad Company (1995 film)|Bad Company]]'' (1995) - Walter Curl
*''[[Beyond Rangoon]]'' (1995) - Jeremy Watt
*''Drunks''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112907/ Drunks film page], IMDB, accessed February 1, 2020</ref> (1995) - Louis
*''[[Glory Daze (film)|Glory Daze]]'' (1995) - Jack's Dad
*''[[Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud]]'' (1996)
*''[[Diabolique (1996 film)|Diabolique]]'' (1996)
*''Gray's Anatomy'' (1996) - Himself
*''Bliss''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118742/ Bliss film page], IMDB, accessed February 1, 2020</ref> (1997) - Alfred
*''[[Coming Soon (1999 film)|Coming Soon]]'' (1999) - Mr. Jennings
*''[[Julie Johnson (film)|Julie Johnson]]'' (2001) - Mr. Tom Miranda
*''Revolution #9''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253586/ Revolution #9 film page], IMDB, accessed February 1, 2020</ref> (2001) - Scooter McCrae
*''[[Kate & Leopold]]'' (2001) - Dr. Geisler
*''[[How High]]'' (2001) - Professor Jackson
*''The Paper Mache Chase''<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379924/ The Paper Mache Chase film page], IMDB, accessed February 1, 2020</ref> (2003, Short) - Dr. Calhoun (Final film role)
*''[[And Everything Is Going Fine]]'' (2010, Documentary) - Himself
{{div col end}}

===Television===
*''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' (1 episode, 1977) - Narrator of 'Brides' (voice, uncredited)
*''[[Spenser: For Hire]]'' (1 episode, 1987) - Edward Niles
*''[[Trying Times]]'' (1 episode, 1987) - Gary
*''[[The Nanny]]'' (9 episodes, 1997–1998) - Dr. Jack Miller
*''[[The Mike O'Malley Show]]'' (1 episode, 1999) - Professor Beaumont
*''[[Will & Grace]]''  (1 episode, 2000)

==Bibliography==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}} 	
*''[[Swimming to Cambodia]]'' (1985){{spaced ndash}} monologue  	
*''The Nothing Issue'' (1985)  	
*''Sex and Death to the Age 14'' (1986){{spaced ndash}} a collection of six early monologues 	
*''In Search of the Monkey Girl'' (1987){{spaced ndash}} non-fiction essay  	
*''High & Low'' (1988) 	
*''Homespun'' (1988)  	
*''[[Monster in a Box]]'' (1992){{spaced ndash}} monologue
*''Impossible Vacation'' (1992){{spaced ndash}} novel 
*''[[Gray's Anatomy (film)|Gray's Anatomy]]'' (1994){{spaced ndash}} monologue
*''First Words'' (1996)	
*''It's a Slippery Slope'' (1997){{spaced ndash}} monologue
*''Morning, Noon and Night'' (1999){{spaced ndash}} monologue
*''Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue'' (2005){{spaced ndash}} a monologue, a story and a letter	
*''The Journals of Spalding Gray'', (October 2011) Knopf; edited by Nell Casey and Kathie Russo
{{div col end}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Theatre|Comedy|New York City|United States}}
*[[List of solved missing persons cases]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
<!--======================== {{No more links}} ============================
    | PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS IN ADDING MORE LINKS TO THIS ARTICLE. Wikipedia  |
    | is not a collection of links nor should it be used for advertising. |
    |                                                                     |
    |           Excessive or inappropriate links WILL BE DELETED.         |
    | See [[Wikipedia:External links]] & [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for details.  |
    |                                                                     |
    | If there are already plentiful links, please propose additions or   |
    | replacements on this article's discussion page, or submit your link |
    | to the relevant category at the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org)   |
    | and link back to that category using the {{dmoz}} template.         |
    ======================= {{No more links}} =============================-->
{{Wikiquote}}
*{{official|http://www.spaldinggray.com}}
*[https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00547 Spalding Gray Papers] and the [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01264 John Boland Collection of Spalding Gray] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
*{{IMDb name|336960}}
*{{IBDB name}}
*{{iobdb name|8880}}
*{{YouTube|coxoEhQmjzY|Scene from ''Swimming to Cambodia''}} video, 5 minutes
*[https://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1781976 "Remembering Spalding Gray" – Fresh Air Audio Archives] ([[National Public Radio|NPR]])
*[http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/pajj.2008.30.1.1 Spalding Gray's Last Interview], Theresa Smalec, ''PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art,'' Jan 2008, Vol. 30, No. 1, (PAJ 88): 1–14.
*[http://www.newmillenniumrecords.com/interview.html Audio Interview with Mr. Gray, recorded 1996] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630024143/http://www.newmillenniumrecords.com/interview.html |date=June 30, 2019 }}, conducted by Douglas Ordunio, New Millennium Records

{{Authority control}}

{{Spalding Gray}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Spalding}}
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:2000s missing person cases]]
[[Category:2004 suicides]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male actors]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
<!--[[Category:21st-century educators]] - added at September 2013, but hidden because category not yet created-->
[[Category:American autobiographers]]
[[Category:American founders]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American male television actors]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Emerson College alumni]]
[[Category:Former Christian Scientists]]
[[Category:Fryeburg Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Male actors from New York City]]
[[Category:Male actors from San Francisco]]
[[Category:Missing person cases in New York City]]
[[Category:National Book Award winners]]
[[Category:Performance art in New York City]]
[[Category:People from Barrington, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:People with traumatic brain injuries]]
[[Category:Male actors from Providence, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Pornographic film actors from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Pornographic film actors from Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Suicides by drowning in the United States]]
[[Category:Suicides in New York City]]
[[Category:Writers from New York City]]
[[Category:Writers from Providence, Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Writers from San Francisco]]
[[Category:Writing teachers]]
[[Category:Monologists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American people of British descent]]
[[Category:American male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Rhode Island]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from California]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:20th-century American screenwriters]]
[[Category:Formerly missing American people]]