Games’ glory, Caught on Tape

When Bud Greenspan was a guest once on Johnny Carson’s late-night show, Carson told him, “You are the only man I know who can see out of the top of his head.”

Carson was referring to the fact that Greenspan, after years of misplacing his reading glasses, took to putting them on top of his shaved head. The practice became a Greenspan trademark.

Greenspan may not be able to really see out of the top of his head, but his foresight was clear in the early 1980s.

He had already established himself as a filmmaker with “The Olympiad,” an award-winning, 22-part series that aired on PBS in 1976-77.

With the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles about two years away, he had a vision. He wanted to produce the official film of those Games.

Greenspan, who owned a small production company in New York, was not a major player in Hollywood, and winning the rights would not be easy.

He could afford to bid only $1 million, and he told Peter Ueberroth and the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee he would have to make the film on a budget of only $3 million.

Greenspan later heard there was a competing group prepared to bid as much as $5 million just for the rights.

“For four months we were shaking,” Greenspan, 77, said in a recent interview. “Finally, we got a 5 p.m. call from Mike O’Hara of the LAOOC. He said the other people were supposed to have submitted a certified check by 9 o’clock that morning, and they hadn’t done it.

“O’Hara said, ‘The film is yours.’ ”

Said Ueberroth recently: “We knew Bud would do a tremendous job, and he did.”

Greenspan went on to do six more official Olympic films: the 1988 Calgary Winter Games, the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games, the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, the 2000 Sydney Summer Games and the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

Greenspan also produced two non-official Olympic films: the 1988 Seoul Summer Games and the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games.

Greenspan has won many awards, including a Peabody Award in 1996 for his outstanding service in chronicling the Olympic Games. But ask him to name his greatest accomplishment, and he doesn’t hesitate.

“No. 1 is the 1984 film,” he said.

Even after winning the rights, though, there were problems -- and a tragedy.

On July 3, 1983, Greenspan’s wife, Cappy, who was also his partner in the production company, died of cancer.

In her honor, Greenspan named the company Cappy Productions.

Nancy Beffa, who had come to work for the company as a young production assistant in 1974, took over many of Cappy’s production duties.

She would become the executive producer of the 1984 film, while Greenspan was the writer-producer-director.

In later years, Beffa became Greenspan’s companion. But leading up to the 1984 Olympics, they were strictly business partners. And as such, they faced the problems together. One was a lack of money.

“In early June, a little more than a month before the Games, we had lunch with an old friend, Milt Okun,” Greenspan said. “He was a big record producer who, among things, had discovered John Denver.

“We met with him to see if he could recommend a composer. While having lunch, Nancy and I told him we were short of our budget. He said, ‘Could you use an investor?’

“He was a godsend. We told him we needed a million dollars, and he said, ‘I’ll write you a check, but don’t cash it until after July 1.’ ”

Okun also recommended composer Lee Holdridge, whose music Greenspan and Beffa have used since.

“We found a savior and a composer at one lunch,” Beffa said.

The Games themselves provided Greenspan with many memories, two of which stand out.

“Something that still excites me is when I think of opening day,” he said. “We had a crew of 150 people and 22 cameras. I was on the field and I thought, ‘Here was this kid from New York City, meaning me, doing something that 100 countries were going to see.’ And I started to laugh, it was so incongruous.”

Then there is the story of British distance runner Dave Moorcroft, who came into the Games as the world-record holder in the 5,000 meters.

“He qualified for the final, but before the race, he is bent over,” Greenspan said. “I go over to him and he tells me he is in terrible pain. He had a pelvic disorder.

“After the first lap, you knew he was going to die. He was 100 meters behind the next-to-last runner.

“I get on the walkie-talkie and tell the cameraman to concentrate on Moorcroft.

“ ‘But he is in last place,’ the cameraman tells me. ‘Just do it,’ I tell him.

“Said Aouita of Morocco, the winner of the race, is about to lap him as he is about 50 meters away from heading into his last lap. Suddenly Moorcroft has a burst of speed and avoids being lapped. After the race, no one goes near him.”

A month later, Greenspan wrote to Moorcroft telling him he wanted to do a story on him.

“He calls and says, ‘You don’t want to come over here and interview me. I finished last,’ ” Greenspan recalled. “I said, ‘You went out like a champion. You did more for the young people of the world than you would have if you had won the race.’

“There is a pause on the other end. Suddenly I realize he is crying. And that turned out to be my personal hit of the show.”