Dick Van Dyke was born in West Plains, Missouri on December 13, 1925. He was raised in Danville, Illinois.
He aspired to be a preacher at one time in his life. Van Dyke was apparently impacted by his mom’s family’s religious devotion. But after taking a theatrical class in high school, he knew he was meant for something else.
However, Van Dyke’s dreams of becoming a professional comedian were dashed when he dropped out of high school in 1944 to join the United States Air Force.
Even the Air Force appeared to see he was meant to be an entertainer. Van Dyke was refused enlistment in the military three times before being hired as a radio broadcaster.
He was later reassigned to the Special Services, where he was responsible for entertaining the troops in the United States.
The 96-year-old started his radio profession in the late 1940s, but it was not a popular one. Except for meeting his first wife, Margie Willet.
They apparently hosted a radio show since it enabled them pay for their 1948 wedding and provided them with a free honeymoon.
After enticing a pantomime actor to accompany him and create a comedy partnership, he quickly brought his ability to the stage. Van Dyke and Phil Erickson traveled nightclubs on the west coast and appeared on Georiga, a small television station in Atlanta, in the early 1950s.
In November 1959, he made his Broadway debut. He made his Broadway debut in The Girls Against the Boys before moving on to star in Bye Bye Birdie, which earned him a Tony Award.
Van Dyke began to enjoy some popularity about this time.
From 1961 until 1966, he featured in The Dick Van Dyke Show, for which he and the show received several Emmy Awards.
Van Dyke starred on The New Dick Van Dyke Sitcom several years after the award-winning show ended. Sadly, the show did not fare as well as the last CBS sitcom.
Yet, while Van Dyke was filming his television series, he was simultaneously honing his skills in another form of entertainment: cinema.
In the film adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie (1963), he portrayed Albert J. Peterson, and in Mary Poppins, he played Bert and Mr. Dawes Senior (1964). He appeared in a number of additional films, all of them were commercial failures.
Van Dyke starred in The Comic in 1969, a film about a silent-film era performer who struggles with drunkenness, despair, and a large ego.
Van Dyke was well-versed on the issue of alcoholism.
He was quite timid around strangers. He just couldn’t talk to others, and discovered that drinking helped him relax. The boundaries fell down, and he became quite friendly. That’s what got me started, in a 2016 interview with Oprah Winfrey, he said.
He tried to be a positive role model for his children, he stated in August 2016. He recognized he was repeating his father’s faults when he went to counseling.
In 1972, he entered himself into a rehab facility for alcoholism treatment. During this period, he developed a friendship with Michelle Triola, his agent’s secretary.
He got sucked into a romance. He was having an affair with someone other than his wife, he wrote. It was unbelievable. He was burning in shame and needed to accomplish something by 1976. He wanted to be truthful.
Willet, who was at the same institution undergoing treatment for prescription drug addiction, started to distance herself, partially since she disliked the Hollywood lifestyle.
The couple separated and finally divorced in 1984. Van Dyke remained with Triola until her death in 2009, despite the fact that they never married.
Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Van Dyke found popularity by appearing in a variety of television series. In 2001, he returned to the big screen as the narrator for a Walt Disney documentary.
Following that, he portrayed a character in the animated film Curious George and appeared in other films during the 2010s, including a cameo in Mary Poppins Returns. He was 91 years old at the time.
Van Dyke also sings a cappella and has been a member of Dick Van Dyke and The Vantastix since 2000.
The trio has performed multiple times over the years, such as a viral surprise appearance in 2016.
Van Dyke has also written many books, the most recent of which being Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging, which was released in 2015.
The Hollywood legend is also an actor, having one film in the works titled Capture the Flag.
Dick Van Dyke is an extraordinarily talented entertainer who has made us grin and laugh for almost 75 years.
He is a living legend who must be safeguarded at all costs.
