Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan dies at 84 in NYC

Bud Greenspan, the filmmaker whose documentaries often soared as triumphantly as the Olympic athletes he chronicled for more than six decades, died at his home in New York City. He was 84.
He died Saturday from complications of Parkinson's disease, companion Nancy Beffa said. Greenspan's most recent work dealt with the rough cuts of films from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
The award-winning filmmaker unapologetically focused on both the large and small successes of the athletes in the Summer and Winter Games. His career took off with a film he made in 1964 about Olympian Jesse Owens returning to the scene of his gold-medal achievements in Berlin some 30 years earlier. But Greenspan never lost his love for the smallest victories as well.
His favorite Olympic moment remained a last-place finish by Tanzanian marathoner John Stephen Ahkwari at Mexico City in 1968.
"He came in about an hour and a half after the winner. He was practically carrying his leg, it was so bloodied and bandaged," Greenspan recalled in an interview with ESPN.com nearly a decade ago. "I asked him, 'Why did you keep going?' He said, 'You don't understand. My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start a race, they sent me to finish it.' That sent chills down my spine and I've always remembered it."
Greenspan described the Olympics as "two weeks of love. It's Like Never Never Land. Like Robin Hood shooting his arrow through the other guy's arrow.
"It's a privilege to be associated with the best in the world," he said in that interview. "How many times are you with the best in the world in something? They bring things forward that they don't ordinarily do.
"I spend my time on about the 99 percent of what's good about the Olympics and most people spend 100 percent of their time on the one percent that's negative. I've been criticized for seeing things through rose-colored glasses, but the percentages are with me."
The International Olympic Committee described Greenspan as a "true supporter of the Olympic Games and their values throughout his career."
Greenspan, a native New Yorker, cut a distinct figure with his eyeglasses perched atop a bald dome. He got his start in radio before turning to film.

Spider-Man actor walking again after back surgery

NEW YORK – A stunt actor who fell 30 feet while playing Spider-Man on Broadway is walking again, and his father said Saturday that he can't wait to return to the role despite injuries that have him confined to the intensive care unit.
Christopher Tierney walked Friday for the first time since his fall during Monday's performance of "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" and was spending Christmas with his mother and brother in the hospital while recovering from back surgery, Tim Tierney told The Associated Press.
Julie Taymor, the director and co-writer of the $65 million production, visited the injured actor in the hospital on Christmas Eve, Tierney said. The show — the most expensive ever on Broadway — has been plagued by technical glitches, money woes and three other injuries, including a concussion and two broken wrists.
"They're eagerly awaiting his return," the actor's father said from his home in Portsmouth, N.H. "He just felt so blessed to be part of this whole creative process, and he just cannot wait to get back and perform in the show."
Tim Tierney said he believes his son will regain close to full mobility after recovering from a roster of injuries that included a hairline skull fracture, four broken ribs, a bruised lung, internal bleeding and cracks in three lumbar vertebrae.
Christopher Tierney will remain in the intensive care unit until at least Monday, then stay in New York City for rehabilitation.
As for when a return to the show might be possible, Tim Tierney said he was more positive than his son's doctors, who did not give a time frame for recovery.
"Doctors — they're always pessimistic," he said, adding that the pins and rods his son now has in his lower back will come out after he heals.
The actor's plunge from a ledge into a stage pit, despite a safety harness that should have prevented the spill, was not caused by equipment failure, Tim Tierney said, without elaborating. State Department of Labor officials have said the cause is still under investigation, and the Actors' Equity Association union has said the fall was caused by human error.
The much-anticipated production, teaming "Lion King" creator Taymor with U2 songwriters Bono and The Edge, has had a bumpy ride to Broadway. It has been in previews for a month, and its official Broadway opening has twice been postponed. It is now set for early February.
"Spider-Man" had to cancel two preview performances after the actor's fall, then reopened Thursday with the blessing of the Department of Labor after instituting what agency spokesman Leo Rosales has called a new set of "very strict safety and security measures."
The production had a scheduled night off Friday before it returned to the stage Christmas night before a standing room only crowd, spokesman Rick Miramontez said. The show was trouble free, he said.