spalding gray--RIP

[bug_girl]

well, this is very sad. it looks like spaulding Gray finally did sucessfully commit suicide:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3545009.stm
"No cause of death was given but Gray reportedly suffered from depression and had attempted suicide before......He also never fully recovered from a severe car accident in 2001 in Ireland which left him in poor health."

he was a great writer, and every one of his monologues had me both laughing and crying. "monster in a box" was amazing. i saw him live after his macular degeneration, and that also was hilarious and touching.
i didn't know until i read this today that he had been in this accident and smashed his head. this is doubly depressing for me, because as a fellow head trauma survivor, i know what it's like to suddenly be "lost" in a new brain. it explains why he hadn't been on tour or done anything new in a while.
sigh. any other fans out there?

 

[ASRomatifoso]

Yeah, saw that today, too. When I heard he had disappeared I made some crack to a friend about him "finally swimming to Cambodia." Now that they found him in the East River, it doesn't seem as funny as it did then.

 

[Some Friggin Guy]

Spaulding Gray was an inspiration to me, being a somehwat surreal writer from New England, myself.

I will certainly miss him.

 

[Bluegill]

Very sad. I've enjoyed the performances I saw him in, and I got the impression (though I don't know much about it) that he was well-loved by family and friends. I'm glad they finally found him.

The first time I saw him was on a PBS show called "Alive From Off Center," which broadcast one of his monologues. I was probably 15 or 16 or so at the time, and maybe didn't get all the jokes, but I remember laughing hysterically at his description of an experimental theater version of "MacBeth."

 

[Mercutio]

I was sad to hear he was missing, doubly sad to hear of his death. I have not seen all his monologues, but I have seen "swimming to Cambodia" and whatever his last one, on the macular degeneration, was called. Same reaction as you, Bug_Girl...what an amazing talent. I would love to be able to do that.

As a bit of an aside, the last monologue on his macular degeneration journey (beware, the opening montage is just gut-wrenchingly funny and horrific all at once) contains a beautifully expressed (duh, that's why we miss him) portrayal of a desparate man looking for healing. He even goes to a psychic surgeon...anyone who questions the mental state of anyone who would go to such an obvious charlatan (to us, anyway) would benefit from watching this. He was a drowning man clutching at straws, and the psychic surgeon pretended to be a lifeline.

Goodbye, Spalding.

 

[lofgoernost]

I saw him in a puny theater probably twelve or thirteen years ago. To say I remember nothing aside from the mammoth tome which stood on his desk is more a reflection of my defective memory than his performance.