Dick Van Dyke Looks Back on His Iconic Career as He Turns 98: 'My Whole Life Went Before Me' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Arlene Silver and Dick Van Dyke.Photo:Monty Brinton/CBS

Monty Brinton/CBS

But the acting legend was in for one of the biggest surprises of his life: the taping ofDick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic,a dazzling, two-hour tribute CBS special featuring archival footage and live performances of songs from Van Dyke’s distinguished, decades-long career.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Van Dyke, who turns 98 on Wednesday, admitted that watching the event was surreal.

“You think, ‘I don’t deserve this,’ but it’s difficult to say how I felt,” he says. “I came home, and I said, ‘You know something? It’s going to be a couple of days before this actually sinks in that it happened.’ I never expected that kind of recognition. My whole life went before me. I didn’t realize I had done so many things while I was 75 years in show business.”

One of many song and dance numbers from ‘Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic’.Monty Brinton/CBS

For the Emmy, Grammy and SAG Award-winning entertainer, watching perfectly recreated song and dance routines of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” fromMary PoppinsandChitty Chitty Bang Bang’s“Me Ol’ Bamboo” were among the highlights. “I was just blown away,” he says.

Born in West Plains, Missouri on Dec. 13, 1925 and raised in Danville, Illinois, Van Dyke started out in radio and on Broadway before he landed on Carl Reiner’sThe Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran from 1961 to 1966, and starredMary Tyler Mooreas his wife. The sitcom catapulted both Van Dyke and Moore to stardom and earned them Emmy Awards in the process.

Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke with their Emmy Awards in 1966 for their performances on ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show.'.Getty

While shootingThe Dick Van Dyke Show, he joinedJulie Andrews, Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber in Walt Disney Pictures’ now-classicMary Poppins. The 1964 film “was special,” hetold PEOPLE in 2011. “I loved working with kids. You do a lot of clowning and get to know them.”

Dick Van Dyke in ‘Mary Poppins’ beside Julie Andrews, Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber.Photo (c) Silver Screen Collections / Getty Images

In the years that followed, Van Dyke appeared in 2006’sNight in the Museumand 2018’sMary Poppins Returns —and the actor continues to stay busy. This year alone, he appeared inDays of Our Livesas an amnesiac,The Masked SingerasGnomeandThe Simpsonsas himself.

While Van Dyke proved a prolific entertainer, he found time for a thriving, personal life, too. He welcomed four children — Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie Beth — with late ex-wifeMargerie Willett, to whom he wasmarried for 36 years. In 2012, he wedArlene Silver, a makeup artist, after meeting her at the SAG Awards six years prior.

“I just went up and said, ‘Hi, I’m Dick.’ I don’t know how I got the courage,” he recalls. “Anyway, we ended up married. She sings like an angel. She dances, and we do a whole act together. We do duets and things. She’s the best partner I ever ran into. What a pleasure it is.”

Dick Van Dyke and wife Arlene Silver in Beverly Hills, California in October 2017.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

“My wife brings me a cup of coffee in the morning. I get it in bed. I get treated like a king around here,” he says, referring to his Southern California home.

If there’s perhaps one, rare “sad moment” in Van Dyke’s at the moment, it’s the quiet challenge many nonagenarians face: the entertainer is outliving many of his friends, includingNorman Lear, who recentlydied at the age of 101on Dec. 5.

Dick Van Dyke and Jane Seymour stepped out for ‘fun and scares’ on Halloween this year.Jane Seymour / Instagram

Jane Seymour / Instagram

“I had a bunch of friends there to say nice things, but Mary Tyler Moore, Morey [Amsterdam] and Rosie [Rose Marie], Carl Reiner, Norman Lear, all the people that I always loved and associated with are gone, so I’m having to make new friends,” he admits.

Fortunately, the acting legend doesn’t have to go far to do that.

“I’m happy to say people come to me,” he adds. “I don’t have to go out looking.”

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Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magicpremieres Thursday, Dec. 21 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.

source: people.com