Steven Prusakowski
It is not every day you get to speak to a Legend. I am not referring to a person haphazardly labeled a “legend,” as often happens these days. I am talking about a bona fide Legend – with a capital ‘L’. That is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I had when speaking to the one and only Dick Van Dyke.
The 98-year-old has been entertaining fans professionally for over seven decades and shows no signs of stopping. In fact, the tireless actor recently won a Daytime Emmy for his work on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. Van Dyke’s win sets the record for the oldest actor to win an Emmy. This is the actor’s six Emmy, including his honorary Emmy to mark his entrance into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
The only thing more impressive than his drive is his existing body of work. Of course everyone knows The Dick Van Dyke Show, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Mary Poppins, but he has been actively working in films and series, including his longest running series Diagnosis Murder, a singing and dancing return to the world of Mary Poppins, and speaking of singing, Van Dyke even was revealed as a crooner on an episode of The Masked Singer. The man does not stop.
Mr. Van Dyke spoke to me about his career, start in the industry, entertainment inspirations, beloved past co-stars, his recent star-studded CBS special Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic celebrating his 98th birthday, and much more.
One of the biggest surprises was that the actor has never been honored by The Academy with an Oscar, nor an honorary Oscar. It is the last piece in the EGOT puzzle, meaning Van Dyke would have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. This needs to be corrected immediately with a Lifetime Achievement Oscar.
Below is my conversation with the one and only Dick Van Dyke (joined by his wife, Arlene Silver).
Steven Prusakowski: What an incredible honor it is to speak with you, Mr. Van Dyke. You know, it’s unbelievable, honestly. It’s quite amazing. Hi.
Dick Van Dyke: It took forever to make this connection. You wouldn’t believe what we just went through. I am a real flesh and blood person. I’m not a clone, and I have to ask you to verify that you’re a real human. Are you human? I am human, believe it or not. I swear to God, it’s such a maze these days.
Steven Prusakowski: Oh, yeah. It’s changing consistently, changing day after day.
Dick Van Dyke: I can’t keep up, and I’d refuse to.
Steven Prusakowski: Yeah, I think that’s a way to go, actually. Enjoy life. Don’t try to keep up with the tech garbage. So you’ve inspired so many. I was wondering who or what inspired you to start your amazing career in entertainment?
Dick Van Dyke: Oh, I was born in 1925, so I’m just short of 100. And the silent film comedians is what got me started. Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton and all those guys. When I got out here as an adult, I made it a point to look them all up and meet them.
And that kind of physical comedy is what got me going, and to this day, it makes me laugh.
Steven Prusakowski: You can’t beat the classics. And you’re looking at, we’re going on close to 100 years for some of them, and they’re still brought up by all the comedians and physical actors.
Dick Van Dyke: That’s right.
Steven Prusakowski: And physical comedy has been such a big part of your performance. And I was wondering, so they inspired you. When did you learn you had a knack for the physical comedy?
Dick Van Dyke: When I was a kid, I used to go see the Laurel and Hardy movie and then come home and go out on the lawn and practice falling. So I’ve been an expert pratfaller all my life.
Steven Prusakowski: So a lot of work on the lawn and in front of the mirror, I’m guessing.
Dick Van Dyke: Oh, sure. Well, then I was also, as a kid, an amateur magician. So I spent a lot of time doing card tricks in front of the mirror. I’ve kind of lost that ability.
By the time I was 12, I had put together a little magic act. And I would go out and do it for ladies’ luncheons at the Kiwanis and things like that. And I charged $3. So I’ve been a professional since I was 12.
Steven Prusakowski: That’s a pretty good going rate back in that day. With everything changing, that might be a good going rate right now, $3.
Dick Van Dyke: (laughs)
Steven Prusakowski: I remember watching you as young as I can remember watching movies or TV. But my grandmother loved you. My mother loved you. My siblings love you. Now my daughters love you. Everyone I told about our upcoming conversation had their jaws dropped to the floor. Why do you think that you connect with so many people?
Dick Van Dyke: I don’t know. Although I educated myself, I think I prevented myself from growing up emotionally. I think I still look at things like a little kid would. That’s why I connect, I think. You know, I just opened my mail.
There was a letter from a boy and girl who survived a house fire based on a fire thing I did years ago called stop, drop, and roll. If a fire comes, drop to the floor and look for the door. It saved their lives. I must have done that in probably 1980. So good things do come around.
Steven Prusakowski: Hey, I remember it. I really do remember watching that.
Dick Van Dyke: Is that right? Isn’t that funny? I did several different ones. Some funny and some not so funny.
Steven Prusakowski: That’s one of the things I noticed as I was watching the special was just how I knew you from all your most famous work like The Dick Van Dyke Show and the Mary Poppins films and other series. Those are obvious standouts, but you also popped up in my life in so many different ways. Commercials, and guest spots and your work with Carol Burnett. You were everywhere. How did you fit it all in?
Dick Van Dyke: I don’t know. The one thing I came out with afterwards, I said, you know something? I just realized I never had to work for a living my whole life. I just played and they paid me for it.
Steven Prusakowski: That’s pretty fantastic.
Dick Van Dyke: What interests me, and I don’t know if other people can do this kind of research, but, you know, they repeated some of the sketches from variety shows with the different people with slightly slight variations. And I wanted to go back to a videotape of the originals and compare and see how it could even some of the dance numbers were, you know, supposedly reminiscent of what I had done, but choreographed differently.
And I’m going back and comparing and seeing if those choreographers were any better than mine. Yeah, I mean, it’s funny to watch sketches you’ve done by other people. Unusual experience.
Steven Prusakowski: Yes, I mean, even if they were great, what you did was better. You had a certain weightlessness. You showed that off in the most recent Mary Poppins. I was so impressed by that.
You have a weightlessness that you almost were like an animated figure. You have to keep your eye on.
Dick Van Dyke: That’s what I was going for. I love your word weightlessness. That fits perfectly. And to tell you the truth, I didn’t weigh very much.
Steven Prusakowski: It’s all the dancing and the practice and the preparation and exercises.
Dick Van Dyke: And I’m 98, I’m still in pretty fair shape. And I think it’s a result of that.
Steven Prusakowski: Yeah, got to do the work early and later on, you’ll reap the rewards. Did you always know you would be a legend? Did you have a certain confidence in yourself when you’re growing up? If not, where did you find it?
Dick Van Dyke: No, I don’t know. To this day, I look back and I’m just astounded. What happened to me is very difficult to get my head around. Because, you know, I’ve ended up here being remembered 50, 60 years later. And I just, it’s wonderful, but I can’t get my head around it.
Steven Prusakowski: Yeah, it’s amazing when you look back at the people you’ve worked with, too. You know, not only did you have great work, but you’re surrounded with more legends, Carl Reiner, Norman Lear, Marilyn Tyler Moore.
Dick Van Dyke: The absolute best of everybody. Unfortunately, it turns out I’m the only one left. I think my whole generation’s gone.
Steven Prusakowski: Yeah, it’s tough to look back at that, even as just as a fan. I’m sure as someone who’s worked with them that’s got to hit you a little bit. But the work lives forever. And the work continues to be watched and enjoyed.
Dick Van Dyke: Yeah, that is nice to know. You know, Carl Reiner was the finest human being I ever knew. He was just an idol of mine.
Steven Prusakowski: Where did that friendship originate?
Dick Van Dyke: Well, I had known him, of course, from the Sid Caesar show back in the 50s and was a big fan. He saw me in “Bye Bye Birdie” on Broadway and had been looking for a replacement for himself on a sitcom. And I came out and did a pilot. And it sold. And by God, we were friends from then on. But I hadn’t met him before the pilot. And then his son is a very talented director.
Steven Prusakowski: Then you worked together for all those years. It’s fantastic. You make it all look so effortless. What was the most challenging role that you had?
Dick Van Dyke: One thing they didn’t include on the special, because it said laughs. I have done two or three dramatic films that I thought I was pretty good, but nobody wants to see me be serious.
Steven Prusakowski: They don’t know what they’re missing. For Mary Poppins Return, you appeared on screen and I was choked up. And then you started singing and dancing on the desk and I was in tears. What was it like to return to the world of Mary Poppins?
Dick Van Dyke: I think, piggybacking on how physically hard, I think the old bamboo number from Chitty Bang Bang, I think that that is probably the toughest. The number ends with all the dancers jumping over their bamboo sticks. And every time one dancer would miss. So we did about 25 takes. And they were all kids in their 20s. I was 40 something. I just made it. 25 takes of jumping over that stick. It’s amazing.
Steven Prusakowski: I don’t think I could do it today. In 25 or 225 takes.
Dick Van Dyke: I know. But that was a fun movie to do. Took a long time, but more than fun.
Steven Prusakowski: You seem to have done it all. Broadway, TV, film, even The Masked Singer.
Dick Van Dyke: Yeah, that was incredible.
Steven Prusakowski: Is there anything on your bucket list?
Dick Van Dyke: Soap opera. I just did a soap opera. I’m nominated for a Daytime Emmy for a soap opera. So that really fills out the bucket list.
Steven Prusakowski: Wow. You keep finding things.
Arlene Silver (Dick Van Dyke’s wife): He needs an Oscar.
Dick Van Dyke: Oh yeah.
Steven Prusakowski: Let’s make that happen. You’ve done so much.
Dick Van Dyke: Stan Laurel got a lifetime Oscar. Unfortunately, it was posthumous. He didn’t get to enjoy it.
Steven Prusakowski: I didn’t realize you didn’t have one. That should be something that they fix today. That should be in the works. Not many people have done as much for entertainment as you have. And it crosses over genres and mediums. It’s amazing.
Dick Van Dyke: Yes. You know, I think I’m the only living actor who has his fingerprints in Grauman’s Chinese? They deleted a bunch of older ones and I made the cut.
Steven Prusakowski: Wow. If you could snap your fingers and revisit one set that you worked on, seeing all the old cast mates and co-stars and the crew, etc., which set would it be?
Dick Van Dyke: The Van Dyke Show. Yeah. Far and away. Why is that? It was like going to a party every day. It was just a ball. We had such fun making up the comedy. I’m a little disappointed that the reruns are cut to pieces because of more commercials. It really breaks my heart.
Steven Prusakowski: That’s a shame. They must be somewhere available. They must be streaming somewhere that people can watch them in their entirety.
Dick Van Dyke: That’s true.
Steven Prusakowski: Do you ever get tired of all the love? Is it tough being beloved?
Dick Van Dyke: Of course not. For one reason, I don’t get out very often. So when I do go out, I enjoy the attention.
Steven Prusakowski: And is there a scene partner that stands out to you as your favorite to have worked with?
Dick Van Dyke: Mary Tyler Moore. Carl Reiner hired her. She was 23 years old. And I said, God Almighty, does she have any experience? She had it from day one. Just had to blend it in with me. She caught the timing and I was just amazed. But she was the best partner ever.
Steven Prusakowski: You guys were quite delightful. Some of the best television ever. And it’s a real treat to watch.
Dick Van Dyke: The biggest problem was that the general public thought we were really married.
Steven Prusakowski: I know I did as a kid. And then I saw the reruns of the Mary Tyler Moore show and I was like, ‘Wait a second, where’s Dick Van Dyke? Something’s going on here.’ And I put two and two together.
Dick Van Dyke: I’m so happy. Mary had a great, a great career. Another amazing, amazing actor. And the comedy too.
Steven Prusakowski: She’s had such a different comedy than yours. So I think the combination of you two together on screen is what really was the secret sauce. Let’s close with this one.
Three words to describe your career.
Dick Van Dyke: Sheer fool’s luck.
Steven Prusakowski: Wow. That wasn’t what I expected, but I will take it. Your work has been a treat to watch since I was watching TV. It’s been an honor to speak with you and to enjoy your work over the years. I’m already sharing it with my daughters. I look forward to sharing it with their kids down the line.
Dick Van Dyke: Actually, it was never work.
Steven Prusakowski: That’s the luckiest thing ever.
Dick Van Dyke: It was never work… was never work. Say I said hello to your daughter.
Steven Prusakowski: I will do so. Thank you so much. Have a great day.
Dick Van Dyke: You too.
(The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity)
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