Spalding Rockwell Gray was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
,
playwrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
,
screenwriterScreenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, performance artist and monologuist. He was primarily known for his "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry,
WASPWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
, quiet mania." Gray achieved celebrity for writing and acting in the play
Swimming to CambodiaSpalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 Jonathan Demme-directed performance film. The film is a performance of Spalding Gray's monologue which centered around such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in The Killing Fields, the Cold War,...
, adapted into a film in 1987.
He began his career in regional theatre, moved to New York in 1967 and three years later joined
Richard SchechnerRichard Schechner is Professor of Performance Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University , editor of TDR: The Drama Review, and artistic director of East Coast Artists. His BA is from Cornell University , MA from the University of Iowa , and PhD from Tulane University...
's experimental troupe, the Performance Group. He co-founded the Wooster Group ensemble in 1975. He died in New York City of an apparent suicide. A documentary film about his life, entitled
And Everything Is Going FineAnd Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of the late monologuist Spalding Gray. It premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival...
, was released in 2010 and is directed by
Steven SoderberghSteven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
.
Early life
Gray was born in
Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, to Rockwell Gray, Sr., the treasurer of
Brown & SharpeBrown & Sharpe is a division of Hexagon Metrology, Inc., a multinational corporation focused mainly on metrological tools and technology. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Brown & Sharpe was one of the most well-known and influential firms in the machine tool industry...
, and Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" Horton, a homemaker. He was the middle-born of three sons: Rockwell, Jr., Spalding and Channing. He was raised in the Christian Scientist faith and grew up in
Barrington, Rhode IslandBarrington is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,310 at the 2010 census.In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Barrington sixth on its list of the 100 best places to live in the United States.-History:...
, spending summers at his grandmother's house in
NewportNewport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
.
After graduating from
Fryeburg AcademyFryeburg Academy, founded 1792, is one of the oldest private schools in the United States. It is located in Fryeburg, Maine. One of the first headmasters was Daniel Webster, who taught at the school for a year....
in Fryeburg, Maine, he enrolled at
Emerson CollegeEmerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
as a poetry major, where he earned his
B.A.A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1963.
In 1965, Gray moved to San Francisco and became a speaker and teacher of poetry at the
Esalen InstituteEsalen Institute is a residential community and retreat in Big Sur, California, which focuses upon humanistic alternative education. Esalen is a nonprofit organization devoted to activites such as meditation, massage, Gestalt, yoga, psychology, ecology, and spirituality...
. In 1967, while Gray was vacationing in
Mexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, his mother committed suicide at the age of 62. After his mother's death, Gray moved away from the west coast and permanently settled in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Gray's books
Impossible Vacation and
Sex and Death to the Age 14 are largely based on his childhood and early adulthood.
Career
Theatre historian Don Wilmeth noted Gray's contribution to a unique style of writing and acting: "The 1980s saw the rise of the autobiographical monologue, its leading practitioner Spalding Gray, the
WASPWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
from Rhode Island who portrays himself as an innocent abroad in a crazy contemporary world. . . others, like Mike Feder, who grew up in Queens and began telling his life on New York radio, pride themselves on their theatrical minimalism, and simply sit and talk. Audiences come to autobiography for direct connection and great stories, both sometimes hard to find in today's theatre."
After starring in some supporting actor movie roles, such as in
The Killing Fields, and television parts, including
Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, Gray first achieved national prominence with his play
Swimming to CambodiaSpalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 Jonathan Demme-directed performance film. The film is a performance of Spalding Gray's monologue which centered around such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in The Killing Fields, the Cold War,...
, which he wrote in 1985 and filmed in 1987. It was a monologue based entirely on his experiences in
Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
while filming a small part in the 1984 movie
The Killing Fields. For his play, he was awarded a
Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
and the
National Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
in 1985.
Minimalism and monologues
Describing the uniqueness of the film-play monologue, theatre director Mark Russell wrote:
- "He broke it all down to a table, a glass of water, a spiral notebook and a mic. Poor theatre—a man and an audience and a story. Spalding sitting at that table, speaking into the mic, calling forth the script of his life from his memory and those notebooks. A simple ritual: part news report, part confessional, part American raconteur. One man piecing his life back together, one memory, one true thing at a time. Like all genius things, it was a simple idea turned on its axis to become absolutely fresh and radical."
Aside from his more well-known monologues, Gray was a founding member of the experimental theater company
The Wooster GroupThe Wooster Group is a New York City-based experimental theater company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. It gradually emerged during 1975-1980 from Richard Schechner's The Performance Group and took its name in 1980...
, and appeared in a large number of plays, including a high-profile revival of
Thornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
's
Our TownOur Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives...
. In the 1980s and 1990s, Gray performed his monologues frequently at The Painted Bride in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He appeared there yearly, and the admission price was always nominal for the time. It was believed that he kept the admission low, as The Painted Bride had provided a venue for his early performances. He read from
Swimming To Cambodia as a work in progress at The Bride.
"Neurotic" and hilarious storyteller
Journalist and author
Roger RosenblattRoger Rosenblatt is an American journalist, author, playwright and teacher. He was a long-time columnist for Time magazine.-Career:...
, describing Gray, called him "Spalding the storyteller... Spalding the mystical. Spalding the hilarious. Spalding the self-exposed, the professionally puzzled, the scared, the brave. Spalding the supporting actor. That's what he was in the movies. But as a writer and a stage performer, he changed the idea of what a supporting actor is. He supported
us... He played our part...
- "We tacitly elect a few to be the chief tellers of our tales. Spalding was one of the elected. The specialty of his storytelling was the search for a sorrow that could be alchemized into a myth. He went for the misery sufficiently deep to create a story that makes us laugh...
- "In so doing, he invented a form, a very rare thing among artists. Some called it the 'epic monologue' because first it was spoken and then it was written, like the old epics, and because it consisted of great and important themes drawn from the hero's life. ... And the one true heroic element in his makeup was the willingness to be open, rapidly open, about his confusions, his frailties."
In 1992, Gray published his first and only novel,
Impossible Vacation. The novel is strongly based upon Gray's own life experiences, including his Christian Scientist upbringing, his
WASPWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
background, and his mother's
suicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. True to form, Gray wrote a monologue about his experiences with the book entitled
Monster in a BoxMonster in a Box is a monologue originally performed live on stage by the writer Spalding Gray then subsequently made into a 1992 film starring Gray and directed by Nick Broomfield....
.
During an interview in 1997 with film author Edward Vilga, Gray was asked whether the movie industry was "confused" by his writings and roles: He replied,
-
- "I would say that my major problem with Hollywood is this—I sometimes paraphrase Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
—Bob Dylan says 'I may look like Robert FrostRobert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, but I feel just like Jesse JamesJesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...
.' I say 'I may look like a gynecologist, an American ambassador's aide, or a lawyer, but I feel like Woody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
.' ...
-
- "My insides are not what my outsides are. I'm not who I appear to be. I appear to be a Wasp
The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...
BrahminBrahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
, but I'm really a sort of neurotic, perverse New York Jew. When I was performing one year ago at this time in Israel, a review came out in Hebrew about Monster in a Box, and it read, 'Spalding Gray is funny, sometimes hilarious, wonderfully neurotic for a non-Jew.' Only the Jews can say something like 'wonderfully neurotic.'"
Director
Jonathan DemmeRobert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
said of Gray, "Spalding's unfailing ability to ignite universal emotions and laughter in all of us while gloriously wallowing in his own exquisite uniqueness will remain forever one of the great joys of American performance and literature."
"He took the anarchy and illogic of life and molded it into something we could grab a hold of," said actor and novelist
Eric BogosianEric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
. "It took courage to do what Spalding did, courage to make theatre so naked and unadorned, to expose himself in this way and to fight his demons in public."
Personal life and death
In June 2001, he suffered severe injuries in a car crash while on vacation in
IrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. "In the crash, Gray, who had always battled his hereditary depression and bipolar tendencies, suffered a badly broken hip, leaving his right leg almost immobilized, and a fracture in his skull that left a jagged scar on his forehead. He now suffered not only from depression but also from a brain injury. During surgery in which a titanium plate was placed over the break in his skull, surgeons removed dozens of bone fragments from his frontal cortex. Shattered both physically and emotionally, he spent the ensuing months experimenting with every therapy imaginable.
Among those from whom Gray sought treatment was
Oliver SacksOliver Wolf Sacks, CBE , is a British neurologist and psychologist residing in New York City. He is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, where he also holds the position of Columbia Artist...
, a well-known neurologist. Sacks began seeing Gray as a patient in August 2003 and continued to do so until almost the time of his death. In an article by Gaby Wood published on the first anniversary of Gray's disappearance, Sacks proposed that Gray perceived the taking of his own life as part of what he had to say: "On several occasions he 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.'" Sacks added, "I was at pains to say that he would be much more creative alive than dead."
On January 9, 2004, Gray did take part in a final interview. The subject of this interview was not Spalding Gray but
Ron VawterRon Vawter was an American actor and a founding member of the experimental theater company, The Wooster Group....
, a deceased friend and colleague whom Gray met in the winter of 1972-73. Gray and Vawter worked closely together throughout the 1970s, first with The Performance Group (founded by Richard Schechner), then as core members of
The Wooster GroupThe Wooster Group is a New York City-based experimental theater company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. It gradually emerged during 1975-1980 from Richard Schechner's The Performance Group and took its name in 1980...
(founded by Gray and
Elizabeth LeCompteElizabeth LeCompte is a founding member and the theater director of experimental theater collective The Wooster Group .-Biography:...
). The edited transcript of "Spalding Gray's Last Interview" has been published in New England Theatre Journal.
On January 10, 2004, Gray, suffering from increasingly deep episodes of
clinical depressionMajor depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
in part as a result of his injuries, was declared missing. The night before his disappearance, he had seen
Tim BurtonTimothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
's film
Big FishBig Fish is a 2003 American fantasy adventure film based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace. The film was directed by Tim Burton and stars Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange and Marion Cotillard. Finney plays Edward Bloom, a former traveling salesman from...
, which 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, has said, "You know, Spalding cried after he saw that movie. I just think it gave him permission. I think it gave him permission to die."
When Gray was first declared missing, his profile was featured on the Fox Network show
America's Most WantedAmerica's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...
.
On March 7, 2004, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York reported that Gray's body was discovered by two men and pulled from the
East RiverThe East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
. One of the men subsequently gave an interview providing details of the accidental discovery. It is believed that Gray jumped off the side of the
Staten Island FerryThe Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry service operated by the New York City Department of Transportation that runs between the boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island.-Overview:...
. In light of a suicide attempt in 2002, and the fact that his mother had killed herself in 1967, suicide was the suspected cause of death. It was reported that Gray was working on a new monologue at the time of his death, and that the subject matter of the piece – the Ireland car crash and his subsequent attempts to recover from his injuries – might have triggered his final bout of depression.
Gray was buried at Oakland Cemetery in
Sag Harbor, New YorkSag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, with parts in both the Towns of East Hampton and Southampton. The population was 2,313 at the 2000 census....
. He was survived by his wife Kathie Russo, stepdaughter Marissa, two sons, Forrest Dylan Gray (a.k.a. "Forrest Fire Gray"), and Theo Spalding Gray, and brothers Channing and Rockwell Gray.
Posthumous works
In 2005, Gray's unfinished final monologue was published in a hardcover edition entitled
Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue. Running 39 pages, the monologue — which Gray had performed in one of his last public appearances — is augmented by two additional pieces he also performed at the time, a short remembrance called "The Anniversary" and an open letter to New York City written in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Also included in the book is an extensive collection of remembrances and tributes from fellow performers and friends.
Gray's voice is still being heard through the resurrection of his journal entries in the 2007 play
Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City. The concept for this play was derived by Gray's widow. The show includes a cast of four actors as well as one revolving cast member. As of 2010, the show still tours on a limited basis in the U.S.
In January 2010,
Steven SoderberghSteven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
's documentary,
And Everything Is Going FineAnd Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of the late monologuist Spalding Gray. It premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival...
, was released at Utah's
Slamdance Film FestivalAs a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent in the film industry; it is also the only major film festival fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance counts among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the...
. The film was compiled from film and video clips of Gray's early life and career. Ms. Russo, Gray's widow, stated, "Steven told me that he wanted Spalding to tell the story, as if it was his last monologue, and I think he accomplished that."
Movies written and performed by Spalding Gray
- Swimming to Cambodia
Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia is a 1987 Jonathan Demme-directed performance film. The film is a performance of Spalding Gray's monologue which centered around such themes as his trip to Southeast Asia to create the role of the U.S. Ambassador's aide in The Killing Fields, the Cold War,...
(1987)
- Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure
Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure is a 1988 filming of a monologue written and performed by Spalding Gray.In it, he chronicles the adventures he shared with his girlfriend, Renee, in the Catskills...
(1988)
- Monster in a Box
Monster in a Box is a monologue originally performed live on stage by the writer Spalding Gray then subsequently made into a 1992 film starring Gray and directed by Nick Broomfield....
(1991)
- Gray's Anatomy (1996)
- And Everything Is Going Fine
And Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of the late monologuist Spalding Gray. It premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival...
(2010)
Actor
- Cowards (1970)
- Love-In '72 (1972)
- The Farmer's Daughters (1976)
- Little Orphan Dusty (Uncredited, 1976)
- Maraschino Cherry (Uncredited, 1978)
- The Killing Fields (1984)
- Hard Choices (1985)
- The Communists Are Comfortable (1985)
- Almost You (1985)
- Seven Minutes in Heaven
Seven Minutes in Heaven is a 1985 teen film directed by Linda Feferman, starring Jennifer Connelly in one of her first roles.-Plot:Natalie allows her classmate Jeff , who ran away from home after a fight with his stepfather , to stay at her place while her father is away on a business trip...
(1985)
- True Stories
True Stories is an American film that spans the genres of musical, art, and comedy, directed by and starring David Byrne of the band Talking Heads. It co-stars John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Spalding Gray. Byrne has described the film as, "A project with songs based on true stories from tabloid...
(1986)
- Beaches
Beaches , is a 1988 American comedy-drama film adapted by Mary Agnes Donoghue from the Iris Rainer Dart novel of the same name...
(1988)
- Stars and Bars
Stars and Bars is an American comedy film released in 1988, directed by Pat O'Connor and based on a book by William Boyd. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Henderson Dores.-Plot:...
(1988)
- Clara's Heart
Clara's Heart is a 1988 American film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Kathleen Quinlan and Michael Ontkean. It was directed by Robert Mulligan and written by Mark Medoff, based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Joseph Olshan.-Plot:...
(1988)
- Heavy Petting (1989)
- The Image (1990)
- To Save a Child (1991)
- Straight Talk
Straight Talk is an 1992 American comedy-film distributed by Hollywood Pictures, directed by Barnet Kellman and starring Dolly Parton and James Woods. Parton did not receive star-billing in any other theatrically-released films until the 2012 film Joyful Noise, alongside Queen Latifah...
(1992)
- King of the Hill
King of the Hill is a 1993 film, Steven Soderbergh's third feature film, and the second he directed from his own screenplay following his 1989 Palme d'Or-winning effort sex, lies, and videotape. It too was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:Based on the...
(1993)
- Zelda
Zelda is a 1993 television movie based on the lives of author F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda Fitzgerald, artist and fellow author....
(1993)
- Twenty Bucks
Twenty Bucks is a 1993 film that follows the travels of a $20 bill from a crisp new note from the ATM in downtown Minneapolis through various transactions and incidents from person to person through the city....
(1993)
- The Pickle
The Pickle is a 1993 film produced, written, and directed by Paul Mazursky, telling the story of a formerly powerful film director whose recent string of flops has forced him to make a commercial piece that is artistically uninspired...
(1993)
- The Paper
The Paper is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard and starring Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, and Glenn Close. The film depicts 24 hours in a newspaper editor's professional and personal life.-Plot:...
(1994)
- Beyond Rangoon
Beyond Rangoon is a 1995 drama film directed by John Boorman about Laura Bowman , an American tourist who vacations in Burma in 1988, the year in which the 8888 Uprising takes place...
(1995)
- Bad Company
Bad Company is a 1995 neo-noir thriller film directed by Damian Harris and written by Ross Thomas.The film stars Ellen Barkin and Laurence Fishburne as former CIA operatives engaging in a dubious romance while plotting to murder their boss, played by Frank Langella, and take over his firm, which...
(1995)
- Drunks (1995)
- Glory Daze
Glory Daze is an independent film starring Ben Affleck, Sam Rockwell, French Stewart and Alyssa Milano. It had a limited release in 1996.- Plot :...
(1996)
- Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud
Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud is a PBS 'American Masters' TV documentary on the inventor/visionary/thinker R. Buckminster Fuller, produced and directed by four time Academy Award nominees Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon...
(1996)
- Diabolique
Diabolique is an American film directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik and written by Henri-Georges Clouzot and Don Roos. The film stars Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani...
(1996)
- Bliss (1997)
- Coming Soon (1999)
- The Best Man (play)
The Best Man is a 1960 play by American playwright Gore Vidal. The play premiered on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on March 31, 1960, and ran for 520 performances before closing on July 8, 1961.Vidal adapted it into a film with the same title in 1964....
(2000)
- Revolution #9 (2001)
- Julie Johnson
Julie Johnson is a 2001 drama film directed and written by Wendy Hammond and Bob Gosse. It was shown at several film festivals worldwide between 2001 and 2004.-Plot:...
(2001)
- How High
How High is a 2001 stoner comedy starring Method Man and Redman, written by Dustin Lee Abraham, and director Jesse Dylan's debut feature film. Entertainment Weekly rated it third in their "Best Stoner Movie" top ten list...
(2001)
- Kate and Leopold (2001)
- The Paper Mache Chase (2003)
- And Everything Is Going Fine
And Everything Is Going Fine is a 2010 documentary film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of the late monologuist Spalding Gray. It premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was screened at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival...
(2010)
Television
- Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
(1 episode, 1977)
- Spenser: For Hire
Spenser: For Hire is a mystery television series based on Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. The series, developed for TV by John Wilder, differs from the novels, mostly in its lesser degree of detail....
(1 episode, 1987)
- Trying Times (1 episode, 1987)
- The Nanny
The Nanny is an American television sitcom co-produced by Sternin & Fraser Ink, Inc., and Fran Drescher in association with TriStar Television for the CBS network...
(9 episodes, 1997–1998)
- The Mike O'Malley Show
The Mike O'Malley Show is an American sitcom on NBC that aired only two episodes. The series star, Mike O'Malley, created and executive produced the series with Les Firestein.-Synopsis:...
(1 episode, 1999)
External links