Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke will turn 100 years old on December 13, but at a recent Vandy High Tea event in Malibu, California, he joked, “It’d be funny if I didn’t make it.“
“I’m not officially a hundred until December,” he said. “Two months. Two months.” I’m reminded of Betty White, who died just a couple of weeks before her 100th birthday, but People magazine had already released a special “Betty White Turns 100!” issue.
Getting more serious, Dick added, “I brag sometimes about how I made it to a hundred and the truth is, if I had known I was going to live this long, I would’ve taken better care of myself. And it is frustrating because I don’t know what I did right. Other than her [Arlene], I didn’t do anything right.” The Mary Poppins actor married Arlene in 2012.
Any way you slice it, 99 years is a hell of a run. Let alone to still have your mind in sharp condition, as Van Dyke seems to. In an interview last year (when he was a mere 98 years old), Van Dyke reflected on his long career. “I enjoyed everything I did, and not a lot of people can say that,” he said. “I left a good example for a young generation. I think I have a positive effect on kids. And I can tell by the mail I get from kids that I’ve had a good effect. They want to emulate that behavior. And that, I think, is why what we really accomplish is worthwhile. I’m so happy the impact I had was a positive one, and I’m perfectly satisfied with that.“
His long-spanning career has been nothing short of astounding, and he’s still doing it. Just last year, he became the oldest-ever Daytime Emmy winner when he won the award for Best Guest Performer in a Daytime Drama Series for playing Timothy Robicheaux on Days of Our Lives. What a life for a legend, and I hope he makes it to 100, joke be damned!
