Danny Seagren dead: First live-action Spider-Man actor passes away aged 81

Danny Seagren, who was the first person to play Spider-Man in a live-action role, died in Little River, South Carolina, following a illustrious career that also included work on Sesame Street

Danny Seagren — the first live-action Spider-Man and a former Sesame Street puppeteer — has died at the age of 81, his family has announced.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Seagren became the first actor to portray Spider-Man on television on the children's show The Electric Company.

Alongside his work as a writer, dancer and producer, he was a puppeteer and puppet maker for Muppets creator Jim Henson. In 1974, while working on The Muppets, Seagren learned The Electric Company was looking for someone to play Spider-Man and later recalled the unconventional audition that landed him the part.

"I put the costume on and I thought I've got to knock his socks off, somehow," he told Mark Elitz, author of How to Be a Superhero, in a 2017 interview.

"In the room, there was a filing cabinet and a desk. 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."

He stayed in the role for three years and the character inspired a Marvel tie-in comic. Seagren also performed as Big Bird in several Sesame Street episodes.

"He was the famed bird for all live shows, events and parades, including repeated appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show," said the family's tribute, which did not disclose the cause of death.

Seagren later created and performed puppet characters for Who's Afraid of Opera starring Joan Sullivan and Miss Peach, for which he received a Daytime Emmy.

He eventually retired to Little River, South Carolina. His family announced a celebration of life will be held at a later date.

"In his later years, he enjoyed appearing at Comic Cons, meeting the grown 'kids' who adored him. Danny will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and those throughout the community he loved living in," the online tribute read yesterday.

Since Spider-Man appeared in the comic book Amazing Fantasy in the 1960s and then on The Electric Company in 1971, the character has been in various media, including a trilogy of live-action films. The first of these came in 2002, and this was followed by Spider-Man 2 in 2004 and Spider-Man 3 in 2007.

A third sequel was originally scheduled to be released in 2011; however, Sony later decided to reboot the franchise with a new director and cast. The reboot, titled The Amazing Spider-Man, was released on July 3, 2012.

It was followed by The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014 and, in 2015, Sony and Disney made a deal for Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Holland made his debut as Spider-Man in the MCU film Captain America: Civil War (2016), before later starring in his standalone film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), directed by Jon Watts.