The body of Spalding Gray, who used his experience of playing a bit role in a Hollywood film to create the memoir Swimming to Cambodia, was recovered from the East River in New York on Monday, two months after his disappearance.
Gray (62) had struggled with depression, and was so despondent at the time of his disappearance that his wife, Kathleen Russo, had expressed the fear that he might harm himself. He was last sighted on the Staten Island ferry.
The writer’s body was identified yesterday by dental records and x-rays.
In his most successful work, Gray used his role as a US ambassador’s aide in the film The Killing Fields as a starting point for a riveting monologue. He went on to make dozens of film and stage appearances. But while his material was autobiographical, Gray kept hidden his battles against mental illness.
His mother killed herself, and Gray was hospitalised for depression as a young man. The illness returned two years ago after he was seriously hurt in a car accident in Ireland. In late 2002, he attempted to kill himself by jumping off a bridge near his second home in Long Island.
He had two young sons with Russo, and a daughter. – Guardian Unlimited Â