One of our all-time favorites, the great Dick Van Dyke, has beat all the odds and lived to celebrate his 100th birthday today.
Can a person still dance well into his/her nineties? Yes.
Loved seeing Mr. Van Dyke with Chris Martin of Coldplay on The Jimmy Kimmel Show last year.
Dick Van Dyke's appearance on the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson was a hoot!
Many of us 1950's kids enjoyed a thrilling experience of big screen fun back in 1964 when Disney's Mary Poppins, featuring Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke (in multiple roles) and painterly special effects/animation and live-action combos by the super-talented likes of Ub Iwerks and Peter Ellenshaw, hit movie theatres.
Before Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke made his silver screen debut in the Bye-Bye Birdie, the movie version of the 1960 Broadway hit he starred in. As amazing as Ann-Margret and as hilarious as Paul Lynde is in the movie, can't say this writer likes it anywhere near as much as Dick Van Dyke's other films, starring sitcoms, and TV appearances on such programs as The Carol Burnett Show.
After Mary Poppins, Dick went on to star in a series of enjoyable movies.
There's something about his physical comedy that gets this slapstick fan thinking of Charley Parrott Chase.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang features two gifted physical comics, Dick Van Dyke and Benny Hill.
Dick starred in Carl Reiner's The Comic, a tragicomedy about an egocentric silent screen comedian. While the mannerisms appear to be based on Stan Laurel, who Dick knew quite well, this silent movie buff is convinced that it's all about Larry Semon (1889-1928), the otherworldly little comic whose frequent co-stars included Babe Hardy . . . and sometimes Stan Laurel.
After these movies, there was a second Dick Van Dyke show, co-starring Hope Lange from TV's take on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and Broadway musical star Nancy Dussault, in the early 1970's.
Produced by Carl Reiner, The New Dick Van Dyke Show has its moments, but does not feature as deep and exceptional a supporting cast as Mary Tyler Moore, Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie, Richard Deacon, Jerry Paris and Ann Morgan Guilbert in the 1961-1966 show.
Dick first made his name on TV hosting CBS Cartoon Theatre. That's right - Dick Van Dyke, who could resemble a super-rubbery cartoon character animated by Jim Tyer, introduced Terrytoons. Thanks, Barry Siegel Film Archives, for the following!
The Dick Van Dyke Show remains my favorite of all sitcoms, along with The Addams Family, Bob Newhart's first show and the first season or two of Get Smart!
The episode in which Rob Petrie the deejay does a 100 hour marathon cracks me up.
The "walnut" episode is another favorite.
Decades later in the 1990's, Dick Van Dyke would co-star with his son Barry in a medical whodunit show, Diagnosis: Murder. My father, an avid fan of mysteries and whodunits, loved it.
Strikes this writer as appropriate that tonight, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum will be screening Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL on Dick's 100th birthday. Mr. Van Dyke knew Buster and Stan Laurel; all three brought countless laughs to a weary, hurting, troubled world.
Note: for outstanding holiday season entertainment, the American Masters profile of Dick Van Dyke will be available via streaming on PBS through January 9, 2026.
Acknowledgements:
The Dick Van Dyke Show: 1961-1966 from the always splendid Once Upon A Screen website.
The Dick Van Dyke Show Changed TV Forever by Melanie McFarland
