Acting legend, Dick Van Dyke, is turning 100 this month, but admits he wouldn’t be celebrating anything if he hadn’t given up two of his ‘addictions’
Mary Poppins star, Dick Van Dyke, has revealed which of his vices he had to kick in order to make it to his 100th birthday, which he celebrates this month.
The Diagnosis Murder icon, who boasts 75 years in the acting industry, marks the momentous milestone on Saturday, but reckons he wouldn’t be celebrating anything if he hadn’t overhauled his lifestyle in his 50s.
Revealing that he quit smoking and drinking 50 years ago, Dick – famed for his role as loveable chimney sweep Bert in Mary Poppins – was forced to correct his son, actor, Barry Von Dyck, 74, who said his dad “never smoked too much”.
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Setting the record straight, the star told People magazine: “I smoked a lot, actually! I think I was probably in my 50s before it dawned on me that I had an addictive personality. If I liked something, I was going to overdo it. So I got rid of booze and cigarettes and all that stuff, which is probably why I’m still here.”
Speaking at the Vandy High Tea fundraising event – which raised money for theThe Van Dyke Endowment of the Arts and the Dick Van Dyke Museum – at his home in Malibu, the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star said he was “probably the last person alive” who got to know and spend time with Walt Disney before the animation legend died of lung cancer in 1966.
Dick lamented: “He was a wonderful guy. He just smoked too much! Doggone.”
The seasoned star checked into rehab in 1973 to help overcome his alcoholism, and while getting sober he also quit smoking. However, he previously admitted he found quitting nicotine to be “twice as hard”.
Speaking on the Real No Really podcast in 2023, Dick said it took him “forever” to give up smoking and added: “It was much worse than the alcohol.”
The father-of-four – who married Arlene Silver, 54, in 2012 – recently admitted he feels “lonely” and “frustrated” in his old age because he’s outlived most of his best friends and he rarely gets to attend glitzy showbiz events because of his declining health.
He told The Times: “Though I still do guest spots on TV, and ads and videos, I miss going to the studio every day for a regular series. And every single one of my dearest lifelong friends is gone, which feels just as lonely as it sounds.
“It’s frustrating to feel diminished in the world, physically and socially.
“I get invites to events or offers for gigs in New York or Chicago, but that kind of travel takes so much out of me that I have to say no. Almost all of my visiting with folks has to happen at my house.”
However, the actor is determined not to become a grumpy old man as Dick continued: “We all have the capacity for a joyful life. I’ve made it to 99 in no small part because I have stubbornly refused to give into the bad stuff in life: failures and defeats, personal losses, loneliness and bitterness, the physical and emotional pains of ageing. That stuff is real but I have not let it define me.
“Instead, for the vast majority of my years, I have been in what I can only describe as a full-on bear hug with the experience of living.”
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