Dick Van Dyke is one of the world’s most famous actors, after starring in some of the most loved TV programmes and films of all time – but his life has not been without its ordeals
Dick Van Dyke, the Hollywood legend, has been entertaining fans for over seven decades with his memorable performances. From his roles in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Mary Poppins to Diagnosis: Murder and Night At The Museum, he’s touched the lives of countless fans across generations.
Not only that, but his children and grandchildren have also followed in his acting footsteps, with Dick working alongside them both on and off screen. However, away from the spotlight, Dick has faced heartbreaking losses and terrifying experiences throughout his life – and this week was forced to flee his home due to a fire tearing through his neighbourhood.
So as Dick celebrates turning an incredible 99 years old, Daily Star takes a look back at his life – so far!
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Hollywood icon
There’s no denying that Dick Van Dyke is one of the all-time greats, having starred in some of the world’s most renowned TV shows and films.
He’s been captivating audiences since the late forties when he started his entertainment career as a radio DJ for WDAN in Illinois, USA, before making his Broadway debut in The Girls Against The Boys in 1959. After winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in 1961 for his role in Bye Bye Birdie, he transitioned to TV to star in his own series, The Dick Van Dyke Show, until 1966.
It was during the sixties that he played two of his most iconic and beloved roles, as chimney sweep Bert in 1964’s Mary Poppins and inventor Caractacus Potts in 1968’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
The legendary Dick Van Dyke, who bagged a Grammy award with Mary Poppins co-star Julie Andrews for their dazzling performances, made a grand return in the 2018 sequel Mary Poppins Returns as Mr Dawes Jr. With his career spanning over seven decades and featuring roles in Diagnosis Murder, The Golden Girls, Matlock, and the blockbuster Night At The Museum, it’s no shocker that the actor’s net worth is a whopping £40.7m ($50m).
Terrifying moments
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Dick. In 2013, he had a close shave when his car burst into flames on an LA freeway.
Luckily, a quick-thinking passerby pulled him to safety, leaving him unscathed while his car was reduced to a charred skeleton. Ever the joker, Dick later tweeted a snap of the scorched vehicle quipping: “Used Jag for sale REAL CHEAP!”
And that wasn’t his only dance with danger.
In 2010, he revealed a near-death experience after dozing off on his surfboard and waking up surrounded by fins he feared were sharks.
Chatting with Craig Ferguson, he revealed: “I woke up out of sight of land. I started paddling with the swells and I started seeing fins swimming around me and I thought, ‘I’m dead!'”
Initially fearing he was surrounded by sharks, it turned out to be porpoises who ended up saving his life. He added: “They turned out to be porpoises. And they pushed me all the way to shore!”
Love life
Dick has been married twice in his lifetime, with his first wedding aired live on the radio show Bride and Groom.
He tied the knot with Marjorie Willett at the Chapman Park Hotel in Los Angeles on February 12, 1948, and they had four children together – Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie. The couple divorced in 1984 after a lengthy separation when Dick fell for his agent’s secretary Michelle Triola.
In his memoir, My Lucky Life In And Out Of Show Business, Dick confessed: “She [Michelle] was easy to talk to, she understood me.
“I was drawn into a relationship. I was involved with a woman other than my wife. It was unbelievable. I was writhing in guilt. By 1976 I had to do something. I needed to be honest.”
Marjorie passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2008, leaving Dick feeling like he had “lost a part of myself”.
Tragic losses
In 1976, Dick found love with Michelle Triola Marvin, a former lounge singer and dancer who later became his agent’s secretary. After parting ways with his wife Margerie, he and Michelle stayed together for over three decades until her tragic passing on October 30, 2009, due to lung cancer at the age of 76.
Reflecting on her final days in his memoir, Dick revealed: “She spent her last week in a coma.
“Her doctor said she could still hear, so I sang and talked to her until the hospice nurses told me she was gone.”
The loss of his first wife Marjorie, his long-term love Michelle, and his granddaughter Jessica, who died from Reyes Syndrome in 1987, has marked Dick’s life with profound sorrow.
Famous family
The Van Dyke legacy continues through Dick’s son Barry Van Dyke, a well-known actor in Hollywood. Fans of Diagnosis Murder will remember the father-son duo acting together as Lieutenant Detective Steve Sloan and Dr Mark Sloan from 1993 to 2001.
But Barry’s fame doesn’t stop there; he’s graced the screen in iconic TV series such as The Love Boat, Magnum PI, The Dukes Of Hazzard, The A-Team, Airwolf, and Mork and Mindy. It seems talent is in the genes, with many of Dick’s children and grandchildren, including film producer Shane Van Dyke, carving out their own successful paths in showbiz, even making appearances in Diagnosis: Murder.
Best Life Online has dished out that Barry’s offspring, Shane and Carey, are hotshot screenwriters who penned the 2019 flick The Silence and the original spec script for Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling.
Stunning wife
Meanwhile, Dick Van Dyke is living it up with his other half Arlene Silver, a makeup artist by trade.
The lovebirds first locked eyes back in 2006 at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and tied the knot six years on, on the leap year date of February 29, 2012. Fast forward to March 2022, and the pair were toasting to a decade of wedded bliss.
But Dick confessed to Closer Weekly that he was concerned over fans labelling Arlene a gold-digger because of their whopping 46-year age difference. He couldn’t help but rave about his wife, saying: “We share an attitude. She can go with the flow. She loves to sing and dance, which we do almost every day. She’s just delightful.”
Yet, he fretted: “I thought there would be an outcry about a gold digger marrying an old man, but no one ever took that attitude.”
Arlene wasn’t shy in singing Dick’s praises either, telling the mag: “He is the most perfect human being.”
She added: “I’ve never met anyone so happy, so genuine, so amazing. He’s just like a happy pill.”
Death prediction
Dick has said he isn’t scared of death, saying it’s “going to be alright”. This week, he appeared in a new video for Coldplay song All My Love.
He said he was “acutely aware that I could go any day now”. He added: “I don’t know why, it doesn’t concern me, I’m not afraid of it. I have that feeling totally against anything intellectual I have, that I’m going to be alright.”
The actor also recently suggested he knew he wouldn’t be around for all that much longer.
After Donald Trump was elected as President again, he said: “Fortunately I won’t be around to experience the four years.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
