This is so weird. I've seen his monologue show 3 times. He's just amazing. It's so sad...
January 13, 2004
Actor-Writer Spalding Gray Is Reported Missing
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:57 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- Actor-writer Spalding Gray, noted for his one-man shows in which he tells of his life in artful, witty monologues, has been reported missing, police said.
Police in New York City and in Southampton, N.Y., were searching for the 62-year-old actor, who has homes in both places.
Gray, whose works include the autobiographical film ``Swimming to Cambodia'' (1987), remained unaccounted for at midday Tuesday, police said.
He was reported missing over the weekend by his wife, Kathleen Russo, Southampton Police Lt. William Armstrong said Tuesday. The couple had not been to their Southampton home since Christmas, he said. Police in New York were investigating a report that he may have been planning a ski trip this week to Colorado, Armstrong said, but declined to elaborate.
Gray had a history of depression and tried to commit suicide in 2002, The New York Times reported. Gray discusses his neuroses in his monologues and has said his mother committed suicide at the age of 52.
His brother, Rockwell Gray, a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis, said he had last seen the actor around Christmas.
``I wouldn't say he was in a happy state,'' Rockwell Gray told the newspaper. But ``it wasn't unusual. He's been in a fairly depressed condition for some time.''
The film ``Swimming to Cambodia,'' about the filming of ``The Killing Fields,'' in which he had a small role, starred Gray and was based on his monologue of the same name. His book ``Gray's Anatomy,'' about his struggles with a serious eye problem, also was made into a film. He has also appeared in such films as ``Kate & Leopold'' (2001), ``The Paper'' (1994) and ``Beaches'' (1988).
In his monologue ``It's a Slippery Slope,'' Gray tells the audience he had to overcome a deep depression associated with his turning 52 -- the age his mother was when she committed suicide. It also weaves in reminiscences about boarding school and college days in New England, life in New York City and learning how to ski.
``When I'm doing my monologue, I'm in my element,'' he said in a 1997 Associated Press interview. ``I am most me when I'm on stage. I'm getting closer to enjoying life. I tell my edited life story with ... more energy than the way I live my life.''
Gray co-founded the experimental Wooster Group theater in New York in 1977.
