Dancer and puppeteer Danny Seagren, 81, died on Nov. 10. Seagren was the first live-action Spider-Man, on nearly 400 episodes of The Electric Company (from 1974-77). He worked with Jim Henson, and played numerous characters on Sesame Street (he was Ernie’s right hand, and occasionally filled in for Caroll Spinney as Big Bird). Seagren was a puppet designer as well, and worked on the series Spidey Super Stories, Who’s Afraid of Opera?, The Adventures of Slim Goodbody in Nutri-City, Storytime, and Miss Peach of the Kelly School. Seafren recalled auditioning for an executive for the part of Spider-Man: “I put the costume on and I thought, ‘I’ve got to knock his socks off, somehow.’ I climbed on top of the filing cabinet. When he came back into the room I jumped over his shoulder – but not quite over his head – and landed on the desk in the middle of the room. I don’t remember if he screamed but he said, ‘Oh my God.’ I did a few more moves and he said, ‘You got the job.’” Seagren added that “I never felt silly. I was focused on trying to be a superhero. I think before they cast me that they saw some muscle men but they couldn’t move. I had to be a little bit campy for the whole thing. I really enjoyed doing it. I always looked forward to the shooting days.”
