First live-action Spider-Man, ‘Sesame Street’ star Danny Seagren dies at 81
Danny Seagren, the puppeteer and performer who played the first live-action Spider-Man on PBS’ The Electric Company, has died at 81.
The South Carolina resident passed away on November 10, his family announced.
Born Daniel Morley Seagren in Minneapolis on November 15, 1943, he moved to New York City in 1968, where Henson trained him as a puppeteer despite no prior experience.
Within weeks, he was performing a reindeer puppet on The Ed Sullivan Show and later danced as Big Bird to promote Sesame Street.
He also created puppets and performed for Captain Kangaroo, Miss Peach of the Kelly School—winning a Daytime Emmy in 1980—and Who’s Afraid of Opera with Joan Sutherland.
Seagren also appeared in nearly 400 episodes of The Electric Company as the first live-action Spider-Man, with his segments spun off into Marvel’s Spidey Super Stories.
For the Spider-Man audition, he performed acrobatics atop a filing cabinet and desk for producer Andrew Ferguson, landing the role for the final three years of the show. “I never felt silly,” Seagren said.
“I was focused on trying to be a superhero… I had to be a little campy for the whole thing. I really enjoyed doing it.”
