In his upcoming documentary film, 'I Am Big Bird', Carroll Spiney shares some incidents he has gone through as Big Bird on 'Sesame Street', one of which is avoiding death on 1986 Challenger shuttle.
- May 4, 2015
AceShowbiz - Carroll Spiney, who plays Big Bird on "Sesame Street," shares on his documentary film, "I Am Big Bird", that he was offered a place on Challenger space shuttle. The documentary telling about his untold stories while playing the giant yellow bird character is to premiere next week.
The 81-year-old actor shares that he was selected to be involved in 1986 Challenger shuttle but was withdrawn from the project as his yellow suit, which is more than eight feet tall, would not fit inside the craft. Invitation to him was intended by NASA to encourage children to become more engaged in NASA.
As the costume wouldn't fit inside the craft, his place was given to a school teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who was selected and planned to communicate with students during the flight, but died as the shuttle broke apart. The shuttle exploded not even two minutes after it took off in January 1986, killing seven crew members. This tragedy caused an almost three-year lapse in NASA's space shuttle program.
"I couldn't believe how horrible that was and we were grieving for the pilots and the teacher, for their families and them losing their life like that. So tragic," he said to CBC during interview about his film.
Spiney has played Big Bird since the first episode of "Sesame Street" 45 years ago. His apprentice, Matt Vogel, has been waiting for 17 years to take over the role of Big Bird. In the meantime, Vogel acts as a producer and puppeteer on the show.
In the documentary, he also reveals that he is glad to have full-body costume as he can cry without anybody noticing. He was able to do that when he faced divorce and depression, and when he sang at Jim Henson's funeral.
