Spalding Gray

Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – about January 10, 2004) was a U.S. actor, screenwriter and playwright. Born in Barrington, Rhode Island, he was best known for his performance monologues, which deal with events from his own life in a style characterised by humour, paranoia and acute self-consciousness.

Career

After a few minor cinema roles and appearing in a number of forgettable pornographic films with titles like The Farmer's Daughter and Little Orphan Dusty, Gray first achieved national prominence with his film Swimming to Cambodia, a filmed version of one of his monologues. He based the monologue on his experiences in Southeast Asia while filming a small part in the 1984 movie The Killing Fields.

Related Topics:
Pornographic film - Swimming to Cambodia - Southeast Asia - 1984 - The Killing Fields

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He attracted some attention from postmodernist critics over the extent of the overlap between his off-stage self and his on-stage persona, and was sometimes criticised as exploitative for the way he appropriated the fortunes or misfortunes of others for material for his monologues. He was a founding member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group.

Related Topics:
Postmodernist - Experimental theater - The Wooster Group

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He also appeared in a Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town.

Related Topics:
Thornton Wilder - Our Town

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In the early 1990s, Gray published his first novel, Impossible Vacation. True to form, Gray wrote a monologue about his experiences writing the book entitled Monster in a Box.

Related Topics:
Impossible Vacation - Monster in a Box

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In June 2001 he suffered severe injuries in a car crash whilst on holiday in Ireland. In January 2004, Gray, known to suffer bouts of depression in part as a result of these injuries, was declared missing.

Related Topics:
June 2001 - Ireland - January 2004 - Depression

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