Dick Van Dyke might be 99 but he’s still as active as ever. This incredible man who has given us much fun over the years with the musicals he was part of, including Bye Bye Birdie, Mary Poppins, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, keeps dancing through life and knows how to have fun.
Over the course of his long and very successful career, Van Dyke earned plenty awards as well as recognition for his contribution in the world of dancing and film.
He is a recipient of five Prime-time Emmy awards, a Tony, and a Grammy Award. In 1995, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and received the Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the SAG Life Achievement Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, among the rest. In 2021, Van Dyke was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors.
As he approaches his 100th birthday, Van Dyke talks with a sincerity that uncovers a new layer of the man people have cherished for nearly a century.
In a diary entry shared with The Times, Van Dyke admits something deeply human: aging, even when embraced with grace, transforms everything — your relationships, your habits, and even the way you understand your place in the world. “It’s frustrating to feel diminished in the world, physically and socially,” Van Dyke wrote. “Almost all of my visiting with folks has to happen at my house,” he admitted.
He also reflected on the emotional burden of seeing the world shift around him, sometimes in ways that are difficult to accept.
“Daily, I spiral into anguish over the mayhem and cruelty being inflicted on the entire world,” he wrote. “So yes, I suppose at certain times of day, I am the grumpy old man who yells at the TV.”
A particularly heartfelt part of Van Dyke’s account is the deep love he expresses for his wife, Arlene Silver.
“Without question, our ongoing romance is the most important reason I have not withered away into a hermetic grouch,” he wrote with warmth and humor.
Some time ago, Van Dyke and Arlene stole our hearts yet again with an enchantingly beautiful video of a performance they did along with The Vantastix, a group Van Dyke put together in 2020. The members of the group are Eric Bradley, Bryan Chadima, Mike Mendyke, and Van Dyke himself.
In fact, the video was made to honor Van Dyke and Arlene’s 10th wedding anniversary.
Back in the day when the two started dating, people talked about their age gap. Arlene is 46 years his junior, but from what we can see, he doesn’t have a problem keeping up with her.
The song they chose for their lovely performance is “Everybody Loves a Lover.” Their voices blend in perfect harmony and their dancing is out-of-this-world. Jazz trumpeter Tony Guerrero adds to the enchanting melody and it looks like everyone is having fun.
The video has been seen by more than 790K so far and the comments brighten up our day as much as the video itself.
“That little sidestep at the end is what he used to do on the opening credits of the Dick Van Dyke show. He really is a joy!” one person wrote. “This was so tastefully done, everything from the decor, wonderful singing, dancing & humor, absolutely love it,” another person added. “Great job! You can see Dick’s joy of life and sense of humor that has kept him young at heart. Here’s to 100+!” someone else wrote.
Despite his age, Van Dyke never loses his optimism. “No one is genetically miserable,” he wrote. “We all have the capacity for a joyful life.”
This isn’t forced positivity but a perspective shaped carefully by the lessons life has taught him.
“I’ve made it to 99 in no small part because I have stubbornly refused to give in to the bad stuff,” he explained. “Failures, defeats, personal losses, loneliness, the physical and emotional pains of ageing.”
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