Happy Birthday Dick Van Dyke!

 Good morning, everyone, hope your all well! Its been another crazy week, I had to get an appointment with my dentist earlier than I should’ve been going (I was suppose to go in 3 months’ time to give my mouth chance to heal) but I had to get an emergency-type one as I’d accidentally made the gum bleed from the latest extraction site which – I’m sorry for the visual image this may cause if your squeamish of blood – made my whole mouth fill up and look like a vampire. Thankfully something is now being done to help me eat as it’s been impossible to chew anything without risking anymore damage. We’ve also had to wrap presents, and pick a few extra up, and an emergency last-minute trip to the chemist as my right hand might be infected (it’s very red, swollen, itchy and painful), so they’ve given me some antihistamines and antiseptic cream to try first (hopefully it works). But the main thing that happened this week was my Nan got rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke, she’s alert but not doing overly well, her speech isn’t the best and her mobility is slow, but she’s a fighter and I hope with some rehabilitation she’ll be back to her cheeky old self.

Moving on to today’s post which celebrates the brilliant Dick Van Dyke as he turns 98 today! One of my all-time favourite actors, from his portrayal as chimney sweeper Bert in Mary Poppins and inventor Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and who can forget his infamous role as Dr. Mark Sloan in Diagnosis Murder, I loved growing up and watching his performances. But in addition to his acting prowess, Van Dyke is also an accomplished singer, dancer, and comedian. His infectious energy and dynamic stage presence have made him a favorite among fans of all ages. But there’s much more to this legendary performer than meets the eye.

Dick Van Dyke

Biography:

Dick Van Dyke born Richard Wayne Van Dyke was born on December 13, 1925 in West Plains, Missouri to Hazel Victoria (née McCord) , a stenographer, and Loren Wayne “Cookie” Van Dyke, a salesman. He grew up in Danville, Illinois. He is the older brother of actor Jerry Van Dyke , who appeared as his brother in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Van Dyke is a member of the class of 1944 of Danville High School, where he participated in the a cappella choir and dramatic club. His involvement in the drama program convinced him to become a professional entertainer, although he also considered a career in the ministry. He left high school during his senior year to join the United States Army Air Forces for pilot training during World War II. He was discharged in 1946. In 1947, Van Dyke was persuaded by pantomime performer Phil Erickson to form a comedy duo called “Eric and Van—the Merry Mutes.” The team toured the West Coast nightclub circuit, performing a mime act and lip synching to 78 records. They moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in the early 1950s and performed a local television show featuring original skits and music called “The Merry Mutes”.

In November 1959, Van Dyke made his Broadway debut in The Girls Against the Boys. The production was a revue in two acts and featured performances from Van Dyke, Shelley Berman, Bert Lahr, Nancy Walker among many others. —the film was a success. The film starred Ann-Margret, Janet Leigh, and Maureen Stapleton with Van Dyke and Lynde reprising their roles. He played the lead role of Albert Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie, which ran from April 14, 1960, to October 7, 1961. The musical won four Tony awards including Van Dyke’s Best Featured Actor Tony, in 1961. In 1980, Van Dyke appeared in the title role in the first Broadway revival of The Music Man.

Van Dyke began his film career by playing the role of Albert J. Peterson in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie (1963). Despite his unhappiness with the adaptation—its focus differed from the stage version in that the story now centered on a previously supporting character —the film was a success. The film starred Ann-Margret, Janet Leigh, and Maureen Stapleton with Van Dyke and Lynde reprising their roles. That same year, Van Dyke was cast in two roles: as Bert, a man who goes through multiple odd jobs, ultimately and memorably becoming a chimney sweep; and as bank chairman Mr. Dawes Senior, in Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964). For his scenes as the chairman, he was heavily costumed to look much older and was credited in that role as “Navckid Keyd” (at the end of the credits, the letters unscramble into “Dick Van Dyke,” which was repeated in Mary Poppins Returns). Van Dyke received a Grammy Award in 1964, along with Julie Andrews, for his performance on the soundtrack to Mary Poppins. Although many of the films he starred in throughout the 60’s were relatively unsuccessful at the box office, he also starred as Caractacus Potts in the successful musical version of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , which co-starred Sally Ann Howes and featured the same songwriters (The Sherman Brothers) and choreographers (Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood) as Mary Poppins.

From 1961 to 1966, Van Dyke starred in the CBS sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, in which he portrayed a comedy writer named Rob Petrie. Carl Reiner conceived the program and cast himself as the lead in the pilot, but CBS insisted on recasting, and Reiner chose Van Dyke to replace him in the role. The series had a reunion in 2004 and was aired on CBS as The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisted with Ray Romano serving as host and Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie, Jerry Van Dyke and Carl Reiner returning. Morey Amsterdam and Richard Deacon appeared in archival footage, both having died. In 1973, Van Dyke voiced his animated likeness for the October 27, 1973, installment of Hanna-Barbera’s The New Scooby-Doo Movies, “Scooby-Doo Meets Dick Van Dyke,” the series’ final first-run episode. Van Dyke’s film work affected his TV career: the reviews he received for his role as D.A. Fletcher in Dick Tracy led him to star as the character Dr. Mark Sloan first in an episode of Jake and the Fatman, then in a series of TV movies on CBS that became the foundation for his popular television drama Diagnosis: Murder. The series ran from 1993 to 2001 with son Barry Van Dyke co-starring in the role of Dr. Sloan’s son Lieutenant Detective Steve Sloan. Van Dyke continued to find television work after the show ended, including a dramatically and critically successful performance of The Gin Game, produced for television in 2003 that reunited him with Mary Tyler Moore.

On February 12, 1948, while appearing at the Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, he and the former Margerie Willett were married on the radio show Bride and Groom. They had four children: Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie Beth. They divorced in 1984 after a long separation. On February 29, 2012, at the age of 86, Van Dyke married 40-year-old make-up artist Arlene Silver. They had met six years earlier at the SAG awards. All of Van Dyke’s children are married, and he has seven grandchildren. In 1987, Van Dyke’s granddaughter Jessica Van Dyke died from Reye syndrome, which led him to do a series of commercials to raise public awareness of the danger of aspirin to children. Throughout his acting career he continued to teach Sunday school in the Presbyterian Church where he was an elder, and he continued to read such theologians as Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Van Dyke has received various awards, including a Grammy Award, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2013, he received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

• Before he was a successful actor and comedian, his first job was that of a radio announcer at a Danville, Illinois radio station at age 16. He did the news as well as spun records.
• Before being an actor and comedian, he was also a Sunday School teacher and an elder at a Presbyterian church, who ministered every Sunday.
• Before he was a successful actor and comedian, he did everything from working in an advertising agency to becoming a disc jockey.
• His hobbies include golfing, sailing, spending time with his family, dancing, traveling, comedy, playing piano, using the computer, Bible, praying and singing.
• Although highly praised for his dancing in Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Van Dyke was never trained as a dancer and did not begin dancing until he was in his thirties.

• Grew up in Danville, Illinois, with younger brother Jerry Van Dyke and fellow celebrities Gene Hackman and Bobby Short.
• Met his future wife, his longtime classmate/sweetheart, Margie Torrell Willett, while attending high school, but did not marry her until long after Van Dyke’s Army service.
• Separated from his wife, Margie Willett, after 30 years of marriage – they would later divorce in 1984. After the divorce, he remained close friends with her.
• Met makeup artist, Arlene Silver, at the SAG Awards in 2006, where he was bowled over by her beauty. Six years later, he married her.
• Children: Christian Van Dyke, Barry Van Dyke, Stacy Van Dyke and Carrie Beth Van Dyke. he has seven grandchildren. Sadly, in the 1980s, he suffered the loss of his granddaughter Jessica, who was only 13 at the time. Of his other grandchildren — Jessica also had a brother and sister — four of them have followed in their famous grandfather’s footsteps. Siblings Taryn, Wes, Shane, and Carey Van Dyke (Barry’s kids) starred alongside their grandfather in the TV shows “Diagnosis Murder” and “Murder 101.” 

• Dick took a big chance agreeing to do The Dick Van Dyke show because in order to do it, he had to leave the Broadway hit show “Bye Bye Birdie” for which he won a Tony Award. If the show was not a hit he would have been out of work.
• Created most of his own comedy routines and physical schticks on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
• When The Dick Van Dyke Show started, he actually had a crush on Mary Tyler Moore, who played his wife on the series.
• Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore played a married couple so convincingly on the show that many viewers actually thought they were married in real life. They did in fact become very close – “like siblings”, as Dick Van Dyke said – and both admit they had crushes on each other while the show was in production. They remained close friends up until Moore’s death in 2017.
• Helped his ex co-star, Mary Tyler Moore get her own sitcom, in the 1970s.

• Did not begin dancing until he was age 34, and did not appear in his first movie until he was age 36.
• Says that his most memorable role is that of Bert the chimney-sweep in Mary Poppins.
• In an interview for the anniversary of the film Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke said that, while on breaks when filming with his old man makeup, he would regularly prank the tourists on the Disneyland back lot tour by flagging the bus and then running pass by them at full speed.
• Dick Van Dyke was offered four options for his dance scene in Mary Poppins Returns, each with a varying degree of difficulty. He insisted on performing the hardest dance routine and refused any help from fellow cast members while filming the scene. The resulting dance scene was so well received that there were reports of audiences applauding during screenings to see the old actor dance so well for his age.
• In his book “Keep Moving”, Dick Van Dyke mentioned during the “Toot Sweets” segment for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, at 40 years old, he never bothered to warm up before a dance number. During filming, he felt something pop in his leg. He thought he had merely pulled a muscle, but soon after he couldn’t walk without limping. He went to a doctor, who told him his whole body was full of arthritis, and within five years he wouldn’t be able to get around at all without a cane or a wheelchair. Van Dyke responded to this prognosis by jumping up and dancing, which astounded the doctor. Almost 50 years later, in his brief role as Mr. Dawes Jr. in Mary Poppins Returns (2018), 92-year-old Van Dyke danced without any assistance.

• Went into semi-retirement in the mid-1970s, and made a comeback to television, for the first time in 27 years, with Diagnosis Murder in 1993.
• Dick Van Dyke had no intention of doing a medical drama-turned-mystery series or to ever be on television, again. He soon changed his mind, when Fred Silverman chose him to play the lead role of Dr. Mark Sloan, who was his 1st choice, in a slew of Made-For-TV-Movies, before he was given his own show of the same name.
• Dick, a well-known computer enthusiast, did some special effects work for Diagnosis murder using his personal equipment.
• The reason the series Diagnosis Murder was canceled after 8 seasons, was because Dick Van Dyke had decided to retire from playing the role.
• Buster Keaton and Stan Laurel were two of his comedy idols. Both became fans of Dick’s classic television series.

• His comic inspiration was Stan Laurel. He says he was able to find him by looking up his name in the phone book in Santa Monica, California, where Laurel resided. He called and Laurel invited him over. The two became good friends. When Laurel passed away, Van Dyke delivered his eulogy at the funeral.
• Received a lemon cake every Christmas from Charles Bronson, who resided nearby in Malibu, for 16 years.
• After his granddaughter, Jessica Van Dyke, died in 1987, this led him to becoming the spokesperson of the public service message for the National Reye’s Syndrome Foundation.
• Major supporter of the NOH8 Campaign (NOH8 meaning “No Hate”), a charitable organization whose mission is to promote LGBT marriage, gender and human equality through education, advocacy, social media, and visual protest.
• Friends with: Shirley Jones, Angela Lansbury, Bea Arthur, Edward Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Bill Cullen, Michele Lee, Hope Lange, Larry Hagman, Angie Dickinson, Debbie Reynolds, James Garner, Andy Griffith, Michael Landon, Dick Van Patten, and wife Pat Poole, his brother Jerry Van Dyke, Carl Reiner, Maureen Stapleton, Mickey Rooney, Rose Marie, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Mary Tyler Moore, Julie Andrews, Richard Deacon, Morey Amsterdam, Warren Beatty, Fred Silverman, Dean Hargrove, Betty White, William Shatner, Dick Martin, Jean Stapleton, and Carol Burnett.

• He enlisted to be a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II, but initially did not make the cut because he did not meet the weight requirement, as he was underweight. He tried three times to enlist, before barely making the cut. He actually served as a radio announcer during the war, and he did not leave the United States.
• Almost graduated from Danville High School in Danville, Illinois in 1944 but left early to join the Air Force. He finally received his high school diploma 60 years later when he was age 78 (2004).
• He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 25, 1993. But when the star was unveiled, his name was misspelled on the star as “VANDYKE”. Being a good sport, he laughed, took a pen and drew a slash between “VAN” and “DYKE”. The star was corrected soon after.
• His talent and charisma have inspired many aspiring actors and comedians. His comedic timing and physical comedy skills continue to be admired and imitated by performers worldwide.
• Even after decades in the entertainment industry, Dick Van Dyke continues to be adored by fans of all ages. His charm, talent, and timeless performances have made him a beloved icon.

Dick Van Dyke is undeniably one of the most beloved and iconic figures in Hollywood. With a career spanning over six decades, Van Dyke has left an indelible mark in the entertainment industry. From his unforgettable performances in classic films like Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, to his hilarious portrayal of Rob Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show, he has proven time and time again that he is a true talent. Here’s to the legend that is Dick Van Dyke, Happy birthday!

Thank you for visiting my blog and reading today’s post, I hope you all have a lovely week and I shall see you next Wednesday!