Spalding Gray

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Spalding Gray

Spalding Gray Born: 5-Jun-1941
Birthplace: Barrington, RI
Died: 11-Jan-2004
Location of death: New York City
Cause of death: Suicide
Remains: Buried, Oakland Cemetery, Sag Harbor, NY

Gender: Male
Religion: Atheist
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Bisexual [1]
Occupation: Actor, Author

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Swimming to Cambodia monologist

Actor Spalding Gray was best known for his monologues, in particular Swimming To Cambodia (1987), which documents his experience in the film The Killing Fields. While vacationing in Ireland, Gray was in a serious automobile accident in 2001. The nature of his relationships is muddled in the press: it is not entirely clear if Gray has had two or three wives, or has two or three sons. In January 2004, his wife Russo reported Gray missing -- ominous because of two previous suicide attempts, one of which she and police talked him down from a bridge. Gray's body was recovered from the East River in New York City on 8 March 2004.

[1] Journal entry, 18 March 1972: "Very confused about my bisexual feelings... If I crave a relationship with a man, I am not aware of it. I think the problem is more centered on desirous search for the young... youth! Youth! Youth! The golden boys and girls of my fantasy." Journal entry, 29 May 1973: "Then during this period, I went to a homosexual bath club in Amsterdam and was 'picked up' by this German photographer. He was very aggressive, and he made love to me like I was this beautiful woman... I had never experienced such a complete giving over before." Both entries are quoted by Nell Casey, "Spalding Gray’s Tortured Soul", The New York Times, 18 March 1972.

Father: Rockwell Gray, Sr. (lived into his 80s)
Mother: Margaret Elizabeth Horton Gray ("Elizabeth", d. 1967 suicide, age 52)
Brother: Rockwell Gray, Jr.
Brother: Channing Gray
Girlfriend: Elizabeth LeCompte
Wife: Renee Shafransky
Wife: Ramona (was married when Forrest was born to girlfriend Kathy. div.)
Wife: Kathie/Kathy Russo
Son: Forrest (first child, to Kathy)
Son: Theo (b. circa 1998)
Son: Leo (second son, perhaps this is Theo)

University: Emerson College

Guggenheim Fellowship
Suicide Attempt Long Island, NY (Oct-2002)
Esalen Speaker
Famous Missing Persons
Autopsy
Risk Factors: Claustrophobia, Depression, Dyslexia, Insomnia

TELEVISION
The Nanny Dr. Jack Miller (1997-98)

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
And Everything Is Going Fine (Jan-2010) · Himself
Kate & Leopold (25-Dec-2001)
How High (17-Dec-2001)
Revolution #9 (22-Apr-2001)
Julie Johnson (26-Jan-2001)
Coming Soon (17-Apr-1999)
Bliss (14-Apr-1997)
Glory Daze (27-Sep-1996) · Jack's Dad
Gray's Anatomy (11-Sep-1996) · Himself
Diabolique (22-Mar-1996)
Drunks (23-Aug-1995)
Beyond Rangoon (24-May-1995)
Bad Company (20-Jan-1995)
The Paper (18-Mar-1994) · Paul Bladden
Zelda (7-Nov-1993)
Twenty Bucks (22-Oct-1993)
King of the Hill (20-Aug-1993) · Mr. Mungo
The Pickle (30-Apr-1993)
Monster in a Box (15-May-1992) · Himself
Straight Talk (3-Apr-1992) · Dr. Erdman
The Image (27-Jan-1990)
Heavy Petting (7-Sep-1989) · Himself
Beaches (21-Dec-1988) · Dr. Richard Milstein
Clara's Heart (7-Oct-1988) · Peter Epstein
Stars and Bars (18-Mar-1988)
Swimming to Cambodia (13-Mar-1987) · Himself
True Stories (10-Oct-1986) · Earl Culver
Seven Minutes in Heaven (9-May-1985)
Almost You (Jan-1985)
Hard Choices (1985)
The Killing Fields (2-Nov-1984) · U.S. Consul
Variety (10-Sep-1983) · Obscene Phone Voice [VOICE]

Author of books:
In Search of the Monkey Girl (1982)
Swimming to Cambodia (1985)
Sex and Death to the Age 14 (1986)
Monster in a Box (1992)
Impossible Vacation (1992, novel)
Gray's Anatomy (1994)
It's a Slippery Slope (1997)
Morning, Noon and Night (1999)
Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue (2005)
The Journals of Spalding Gray (2011, journal)

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