On Dec. 13, Dick Van Dyke, legendary actor of stage and screen, will turn 100 years old.
But despite his centenarian status, Van Dyke has no intention of hanging up his hat just yet. In fact, he may never retire.
“I don’t want to. I mean, it’s my hobby. It’s my life. I love it,” he says of acting during an exclusive sit-down interview with TODAY’s Al Roker.
“I’m looking for work right now,” he continues, only half-joking.
It might have to wait since Van Dyke is currently tied up promoting his latest book, “100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life,” out Nov. 18.
It’s a fitting title given the actor has spent much of his career personifying the very definition of optimism both on-screen and off.
“I’ve decided people are born with a certain personality and a certain outlook, a certain perspective,” says Van Dyke. “I tend to look on the good side of things.”
A broadway breakout
It’s that sunny disposition and infectious happiness that have paved the way for his decadeslong success, starting with his starring turn opposite Chita Rivera in the 1960 Broadway musical “Bye Bye Birdie.”
Not only did it help launch his career, but it’s where he learned to sing and dance.
“Chita (Rivera) was so sweet and nice, knowing that I didn’t dance. She was patient. And she also helped me sing because I wasn’t a singer either. I had to learn a lot fast,” recalls Van Dyke.
Rivera’s encouragement paid dividends. “It won me a Tony and got me attention, it got me a movie,” he tells Al.
His Broadway run also caught the eye of Carl Reiner, a comedian and writer whose semi-autobiographical sitcom, “Head of the Family,” failed to impress TV execs until he cast Van Dyke as the lead and renamed it “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
The show was an instant hit, airing for five seasons. Van Dyke’s portrayal of beleaguered TV writer Rob Petrie earned him three Primetime Emmys and solidified him as a household name.
He was also cast opposite Julie Andrews as Bert, a chimney sweep, in one of Disney’s most successful films of all time, “Mary Poppins.”
Using a cockney accent he learned with the help of an Irishman, Van Dyke’s portrayal of the lovable Brit, along with his choreographed dance with a group of animated penguins, remains one of the most iconic performances in cinema history.
“I had to have the animators next to me all the time, telling me where they were,” recalls Van Dyke. “So, it was shooting over and over and over again until I got it just right.”
Even so, Van Dyke says he enjoyed it, along with all the other memorable “Mary Poppins” songs — including the tongue-twister duet with Andrews, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” an enduring tune that continues to delight audiences, both young and old, more than 60 years later.
“To this day, (people) come up and start singing that song,” says Van Dyke.
Following “Mary Poppins,” the actor nabbed yet another leading role, Caractacus Potts in the 1968 film “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
Nominated for an Oscar, the musical fantasy firmly cemented Van Dyke’s place in the hearts of fans, where he’s remained ever since.
Among them? Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who invited Van Dyke to appear in the band’s 2024 video for the emotional song “All My Love,” as well as Al Pacino and even former first lady Michelle Obama.
“It’s wonderful,” he says of the love he’s received throughout the years. “How terrific is that?”
75 years, countless fans
Reflecting on his 75-year career, Van Dyke says he’s been beyond fortunate to have loved his life as much as he does.
“I’m speaking from an advantageous position, I got to do for a living what I would have done for nothing,” he tells Al. “If I had been sitting at a desk somewhere in a cubicle, I might not be so happy.”
And, according to the veteran actor, he’s far from being done.
“I always wanted to play ‘Scrooge,'” says Van Dyke of his unfinished business. “I could do it,” he laughs. “It’s just November. I’ve still got time.”
As for the roles he wishes he’d taken along the way, there are two he distinctly regrets turning down. One of them is the chance to play Agent 007 upon Sean Connery’s departure.
“They said, ‘Would you like to be Bond?’ And I said, ‘Have you heard my British accent?'”
Looking back, Van Dyke says he probably could have done it, but that his turn as the famed spy would have been a drastic departure from the family-oriented fare he’d been doing and he wasn’t sure that audiences would have “accepted it from me.”
In hindsight, however, he says he wishes he would have taken a chance and that it would “have been a great experience.”
The other opportunity he regrets passing up was working with celebrated actor Cary Grant, whom he met while performing on Broadway.
After Grant burst into Van Dyke’s dressing room to rummage through his collection of tailored suits, the two became friends, and Grant proposed doing a movie together.
But Van Dyke turned him down.
“I regret that every day of my life. I turned Cary Grant down. I don’t believe it,” Van Dyke says, ruefully.
Grant died in 1986, closing the door on the possibility of a collaboration. At nearly 100 years old, Van Dyke has lost not only Grant but many other friends and colleagues over the years.
“Everybody’s gone. All those guys, all those comedians, all my old friends gone. I’ve outlived everybody and have lived to see some things,” he says.
Never stop singing and dancing
He’s also surprised that he’s still here.
“I didn’t expect to get past 80, at the most. The fun thing is, I don’t know what I did, right? I have no idea,” Van Dyke says of his longevity.
But he suspects some of it has to do with his commitment to staying active.
“I think keeping moving,” he says, explaining that he doesn’t sit still often. He dances with Arlene Silver, 54, his wife of 13 years, as often as he can.
“I’ve always loved the old, soft shoe. It’s just something about it, the old soft shoe, it flows. And my wife and I do it together.”
They also sing together, with many of their sweet duets posted on Instagram. “She keeps me young because we sing and we dance, and she just keeps me a teenager.”
Dick Van Dyke is putting the phrase “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” to bed.
With nearly a century and hundreds of acting credits under his belt, what does Van Dyke hope his legacy will be?
“The movies and the TV show kind of speak for me. I think it’s about an attitude toward life, to look at the bright side,” he tells Al.
But perhaps he sums up it best in his new book, where Van Dyke writes about how he hopes that he’ll one day be remembered.
“I don’t care how long the memory of me, Dick Van Dyke, lasts in the world after I’m gone,” he writes. “I care about the survival of what I’ve shared with the world, humor, compassion, a zest for living, a love of music.
“For as long as children are proudly belting out their new word, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, or singing and skipping along to ‘Chim Chim Cher-ee,’ the most important part of me will always be alive.”
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