Spinney, 84, has remained on duty as the voice of Big Bird since handing over the physical role to successor Matt Vogel. Referring to Spinney as a “puppeteer” is unquestionably correct, but still slightly awkward: is Big Bird a costume or a puppet? In 2014 Spinney agreed to allow his performance technique and the mechanical details of Big Bird to be revealed in a documentary called I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story. The essence of Big Bird seems to necessarily require human physical involvement: Big Bird as a CGI image or a programmed automaton would not have the soul that Big Bird patently possesses. It is difficult, even distasteful, to imagine the less ambitious, less enduring Sesame Street we might have had without Caroll Spinney.

Source: National Post October 17, 2018 18:59 UTC