Spalding Gray: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|American actor, writer, and performancewriter artist (1941-20041941–2004)}}

| years active = 1960s –20031960s–2003

| occupation = {{hlistHlist|Actor|novelist|playwright|screenwriter|performance artist}}

| spouse = {{plainlistPlain list|

'''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.

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 11, 2004, Gray was declared missing. The night before his disappearance, 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" />

OnIn early March 7, 2004, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York reported that two men had discovered Gray's body andwas pulledfound it fromin the [[East River]]. One of the men gave an interview about the incident.<ref>{{citeCitation news|url=http://www.esquire.com/dont-miss/wifl/spaldinggray0807 |title=What It Feels Like to Find Spalding Gray's Body |last=Snead|first=Robinneeded|date=August 2007 |work=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]|page=91|access-date= February 23,November 20092023}}</ref> It is believed that Grayhe 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" />

*[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

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