“If I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself,” Dick Van Dyke told Business Insider in 2023.
Now, Dick Van Dyke is about to do something almost no one in Hollywood, or anywhere, gets to do: celebrate his 100th birthday.
In a recent reflection for the British outlet The Times, the actor looked back at some of his most memorable roles, including one many viewers never realized was him: the ancient bank president Mr. Dawes Sr. in “Mary Poppins.” In the film’s credits, the character is attributed to “Navckid Keyd,” an anagram of his own name.
“I’m not playing super-old any more,” he wrote. “I am a super-old.”
As he approaches his century milestone, Van Dyke has been candid about the habits he changed, and the joy he kept, to stay here this long. At a Vandy High Tea event in Malibu, as People reported, he recalled the moment he realized he needed to change his lifestyle.
“So I got rid of booze and cigarettes and all that stuff, which is probably why I’m still here,” he said.
Then, in classic Van Dyke style, he joked that “it’d be funny if I didn’t make it,” referencing his upcoming 100th birthday on Dec. 13.
He didn’t downplay his past struggles. “I smoked a lot, actually!” the 99-year-old admitted. “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.”
That honesty has become part of his public persona. On the “Really No Really” podcast in 2023, he discussed his struggles with alcoholism, hoping that being open about his own path might help someone else.
Van Dyke is quick to note that sobriety alone isn’t his secret. Joy is just as important. He has never stopped moving — dancing, singing and working out — and said recently that he still tries to get to the gym at least three times a week. When he doesn’t, he can feel it.
In The Times, he described his routine. He starts on the sit-up machine, joking that his wife, Arlene, says he could do 500 “but that might be exaggerating.” He then moves to the “leg machines religiously because my legs are two of my most cherished possessions.”
His secret ingredient? Music. “Most of my humming and singing really happens when I’m going from one machine to another,” he wrote.
In that same Times article, Van Dyke shared 10 lessons from nearly 10 decades of living:
- “Take (some) things lying down”
- “You will miss your friends”
- “Nobody has to be a grumpy old person”
- “Dance your way to the breakfast table”
- “Be an old romantic”
- “Sing your heart out”
- “Laugh at yourself”
- “Never stop playing”
- “Don’t live in the past”
- “And, yes, go to the gym”
This weekend, Van Dyke’s life gets a celebration worthy of its scale. As reported previously by the Deseret News, Fathom Entertainment is releasing “Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration,” a theatrical documentary three decades in the making, on Dec. 13 and 14. The film traces his eight-decade career, from Broadway and “The Dick Van Dyke Show” to “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” — and features stories from the friends and collaborators who shaped his life, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Tickets can be purchased on the Fathom Entertainment website.