Movie Writer Spalding Gray Missing

New York Post ^ | January 13, 2004 | By MURRAY WEISS and MARSHA KRANES

[billorites]

Spalding Gray - the wry, anxiety-ridden movie monologist best known for the films "Swimming to Cambodia" and "Gray's Anatomy" - has been reported missing by his wife.

The 62-year-old writer-performer, a diagnosed manic depressive, was last seen late Saturday night at his TriBeCa home, law-enforcement sources said.

[gridlock]

I fear the worst for him.

[Non-Sequitur]

Maybe he's Swimming to Cambodia...again.

[commish]

I guess his next movie will be "Where's Spalding"

Seriously though, it does not look good considering the facts behind this guys state of mind and past history. MY prayers for his family -- I do not feel sorry for him if he has done something to himself -- but one should always feel sorry for and console the family of someone who does this to themselves.

[UB355]

I'll bite, what is a Spalding Gray ?

[freebilly]

Actor, monologist. Too bad he's missing.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, given that there's a family history of mental problems and a head injury, I do feel sorry for him. And it sounds like he's fought against it for a long time, he hasn't been in denial or refusing to get treatment. It probably just wore him down after years and years.

Suicide is always wrong, though, and the social penalties should be most severe. You can't use an example like this as an excuse to condone self-destruction, ever. It only encourages the self-pitying and the marginal.

[new cruelty]

Here is an excerpt from an interview by Kate Miller, io Magazine:

io: When you saw yourself on the screen in King of the Hill, did watching your character commit suicide have an effect on you personally?

SG: Yeah, at the time Steven Soderbergh cast me in that movie, I was having a lot of suicide fantasies. I was darkly convinced that at age 52 I would kill myself because my mother committed suicide at that age. I was fantasizing that she was waiting for me on the other side of the grave. Steven said I was his only choice for that role because he had read Impossible Vacation, which was about a man ruled by regret.
I was taken by the fact that the character in King of the Hill had chosen cutting his wrists as the method of suicide, because that was one of my fantasies when I was in Taos. I thought that I would take Quaaludes, take a razor out to the hot tub with me and cut my wrists. But then I thought the Quaaludes would make me feel so good that I would end up not doing it [strange, sad laugh].

[dead]

Maybe he's telling another of those boring monologues and everybody just tuned him out too effectively.

[mhking]

Did Michael Moore kidnap him?

[new cruelty]

And a link to said interview in case anyone was interested: GRAY NOISE: Walking With the Talking Man in New York

Interview by Kate Miller

No date is given.

[commish]

Agreed. IN retrospect I could have worded my reply better.

I do feel sorry for him in the respect that he has had the setbacks and problems he has had in his life. He has, as you pointed out, faced his demons head on and fought a long fight.

I do not, however, feel sorry for anyone who takes thier own life and inflicts that pain on thier family.

[boris]

I saw "Gray's Anatomy" and thought it decent; not boring, and somewhat amusing in a black-comedy sort of way.

[AnAmericanMother]

That's the truth. I've seen suicide destroy entire families. Second-guessing, blaming, wondering if there was anything they could have done to stop it . . .

The consequences are so dreadful that anyone considering such an act should fight it with all his strength, mindful of the harm it would do to everyone who loves him.

[martin_fierro]

I never found that guy to be funny.

[Petronski]

Can you imagine if he left a suicide tape, rather than a suicide note? Two hours. Minimum.

[Petronski]

Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not making fun of the man's plight, just his ability to tell stories that last hours.

The 62-year-old writer-performer, a diagnosed manic depressive, was last seen late Saturday night at his TriBeCa home, law-enforcement sources said.

God help him, wherever he is. I hope his people get to him in time.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I also enjoyed seeing him perform "Gray's Anatomy."

[Petronski]

I never found that guy to be funny.

It's not a 'ha ha' funny as much as a wry, wistful humor. I don't profess to be a fan, yet I bet I've seen 'Cambodia' and 'Anatomy' more than a few times each.

[theFIRMbss]

> Gray, known as the "WASP Woody Allen," has made at least two suicide attempts near his Hamptons home.

You say there ain’t no use in livin’
It’s all a waste of time
’n you wanna throw your life away, well
People that’s just fine
Go ahead on ’n get it over with then
Find you a bridge ’n take a jump
Just make sure you do it right the first time
’cause nothin’s worse than a Suicide Chump

You say there ain’t no light a-shinin’
Through the bushes up ahead
’n we’re all gonna be so sorry
When we find out you are dead
Go head on and get it over with then
Find you a bridge ’n take a jump
Just make sure you do it right the first time
’cause nothin’s worse than a Suicide Chump

Now maybe you’re scared of jumpin’
’n poison makes you sick
’n you want a little attention
’n you need it pretty quick
Don’t wanna mess your face up
Or we won’t know if it’s you
Aw there’s just so much to worry about
Now what you gonna do?

Go head on ’n get it over with then
Go head on ’n get it over with then
Go head on ’n get it over with then
Go head on ’n get it over with then

You’re on the bridge;
Scared to leap,
But a girl walks over
To take a peep...
She says: Don’t do it!
But wouldn’t you know...
The girl got a head
Like a buffalo
With a little red hair
All over the top
An’ her breath would make the
Traffic stop
She says I love you...
But first, let’s eat!

[Suicide Chump, Frank Zappa]