Spalding Gray (June 5, 1941 – c. January 11, 2004) was an American actor, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and performance artist.
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.
"[1]: 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.
In 1965, Gray moved to San Francisco, California, where he became a speaker and teacher of poetry at the Esalen Institute.
[3] 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 and early adulthood.
It was based on Gray's experience in Thailand filming a small role in The Killing Fields (1984) about the war in Cambodia.
Gray wrote a subsequent monologue, Monster in a Box, about his experiences in writing and promoting Impossible Vacation.
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: Gray's performance style relied upon an impressionistic use of memories rather than a recounting of chronological facts.
[12] During surgery on his skull, a titanium plate was placed over the break after surgeons removed dozens of bone fragments from his frontal cortex, leaving a jagged scar on his forehead.
[13] Suffering both from physical impairment and ongoing depression, Gray struggled for months and was treated with a variety of different therapies.
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.'
"[13] 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.
"[2] When Gray was first reported missing, his profile was featured on the Fox Network television show America's Most Wanted.
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.
Theater historian Don Wilmeth noted Gray's contribution to a unique style of writing and acting: 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.
[18]: 293 Describing the play-film monologue, theatre director Mark Russell wrote: He broke it all down to a table, a glass of water, a spiral notebook and a mic.
"[19]: 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".
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.
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.
[25] 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.