Dick Van Dyke is an absolute Hollywood legend. He’s had one of the most incredible careers in Hollywood, and at 98 years old he just won yet another Emmy award. To say he’s been doing this a very long time isn’t exactly news, but I had never actually done the math until Van Dyke himself said he had been making people laugh for 75 years. That’s an insanely long time.
Following a win for the TV special Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic at the Creative Arts Emmys, the movie and TV star was asked how he wanted to be remembered. In a video posted by THR he said he simply wanted to be known for making people laugh, something he has been doing for three-quarters of a century. Van Dyke said…
For laughter, I hope. For making people laugh for 75 years. I’ve been in the business 75 years. I can’t believe it. And I’m still here, and performing.
Even Dick Van Dyke himself seemed legitimately shocked that he’s been performing this long, and I can’t blame him. He’s been working professionally longer than I have been alive. Somebody who has been around three decades longer than me hasn’t lived in a world where Dick Van Dyke wasn’t entertaining. Anybody with a career half as long as his would be seen as somebody who has been around for a very long time. If anybody has had a career in entertainment longer, that list must be pretty short.
His first TV roles were in the mid-1950s, but he was a radio TV and stage performer before that, so he really has been working that long. He’s been on TV for most of the time that TV has even existed. His first roles were in black and white. He was making television before we broadcast the moon landing. That’s simply incredible.
The career is one thing, but the fact that he hasn’t retired is something even more impressive. While he certainly doesn’t work as often as he used to, he has never entirely stopped. He danced on a desk in Mary Poppins Returns at the age of 92. He contributed his sitcom expertise to WandaVision. He’s a modern entertainer as well. Van Dyke has his own Twitter account, and he’s been known to go viral on social media.
Between watching old returns of The Dick Van Dyke Show and seeing him and his terrible accent in the original Mary Poppins, I’ve been a fan of Dick Van Dyke for basically my entire life. I once traveled several hundred miles to Disneyland only to see him perform at the Candlelight Processional (only to have it rained out and not see him, heartbreaking).
Dick Van Dyke may have slowed down but even car accidents can’t stop him. He seems to still love what he’s doing and so as long as he can keep doing it, we can expect to keep seeing the legendary actor.
