Hollywood actor Dick Van Dyke is celebrating his 100th birthday and said he plans to exceed the milestone, explaining: “100 years is not enough. You want to live more.”
The veteran actor, known for his appearances in Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, was born on December 13 1925 in West Plains, Missouri, and became interested in show business at an early age after watching Laurel and Hardy movies at his local cinema.
His popularity as a radio announcer led to him being signed by CBS and following some long-forgotten TV shows, he cemented himself as a household name following his performance in the musical Bye Bye Birdie, which led to him winning a Tony Award in 1961.
Reflecting on his career, Van Dyke told US news show Good Morning America (GMA): “I played old men a lot, and I always played them as angry and cantankerous but it’s not really that way.
“I don’t know any other 100-year-olds, but I can speak for myself.”
The actor, who is known for playing Mary Poppins character Bert – the all-singing, all-dancing Cockney chimney sweep, said he still tries to dance.
“I’ve got one game leg from, I don’t know what… I still try to dance”, he told GMA.
Celebrations are taking place across the US for Van Dyke’s birthday, including a flash mob located in Malibu, which is where the actor lives.
He is also the subject of a new documentary and has released a book titled 100 Rules For Living To 100: An Optimist’s Guide To A Happy Life.
“The funny thing is, it’s not enough. 100 years is not enough. You want to live more, which I plan to”, Van Dyke said.
Van Dyke previously said his wife, make-up artist Arlene Silver, who is 46 years his junior, has helped to keep him young.
Silver, who married Van Dyke in a Malibu chapel in 2012, told GMA: “It’s like a privilege and an honour to take care of him and make him happy.”
Van Dyke has four children – Barry, Carrie, Christian and Stacy – with his first wife, Margie Willett, who he divorced in 1984 after 36 years of marriage.
He then had a 30-year partnership with Michelle Triola Marvin, who died in October 2009 at the age of 76.
Between 1961-66, the actor starred in the sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, which made him a TV star and also found success with the hit TV series Diagnosis: Murder, which ran from 1993 to 2001 and spawned a couple of TV films.
He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 1993, and then the Television Hall Of Fame in 1995.
In 2017, he received the Britannia Award for Excellence in Television and apologised to the members of Bafta “for inflicting on them the most atrocious Cockney accent in the history of cinema” with his portrayal of Bert in Mary Poppins.
