Today is Dick Van Dyke’s 100th birthday. 10 things you might not know about him.
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He was born in West Plains, Missouri. His family line traces back to a Mayflower passenger called John Alden. His mother was a stenographer and his father a salesman.
His parents told him at first that he’d been born in March 1926, to hide the fact he’d been conceived out of wedlock. He only found out the truth when he was 18.
Although he didn’t appear in any films until he was 36, he had a performing career before that, appearing in nightclubs as part of a comedy act called the Merry Mutes. He hosted game shows and made his Broadway debut at 34 in the musical revue The Girls Against the Boys. His first performance ever, though, was when he was very young, playing the baby Jesus in a church Christmas pageant. He cried all the way through it. His breakthrough role was in a show called Bye Bye Birdie in 1960. It won a Tony award for best musical, and Van Dyke took the Tony for best featured actor in a musical.
He’s arguably best known for playing Bert in Mary Poppins, and having an awful cockney accent! In fact, a "Dick Van Dyke accent" is an accepted slang term for an American's unsuccessful attempt at any British accent. Not that the Brits held that against him – he’s still popular in the UK. In that film, he also played the role of bank manager Mr. Dawes Senior. He went on to play Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Despite such roles involving dancing, he never trained as a dancer and didn’t even start dancing until he was in his 30s.
During the second world war he tried to enlist as a pilot but kept being rejected for being underweight. He was eventually accepted as a radio announcer before transferring to the Special Services and entertaining troops in the contiguous United States.
He married his first wife, Margie Willett, on a radio show called Bride and Groom, which paid for the rings, honeymoon and household appliances. The couple were so poor that they had to live in their car for a while. They divorced in 1984 after a long separation. He then lived with a woman called Michelle Triola Marvin for 30 years until she died in 2009. In 2012, at the age of 86, he married 40 year old make-up artist Arlene Silver.
When he got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1993, they got his name wrong. It appeared as Vandyke and not Van Dyke. He laughed and drew a slash between the two parts of his name with a pen. The star did get corrected, though.
He was a Sunday School teacher and an elder at a Presbyterian church.
He was good friends with Stan Laurel, who’d been his comic inspiration. Van Dyke found Laurel’s name in the phone book and called him. Laurel invited him over and they became friends. Van Dyke delivered the eulogy at Laurel’s funeral. He was a neighbour of Charles Bronson in Malibu. Bronson gave him a lemon cake every Christmas.
In 2013, Van Dyke’s car caught fire on the freeway in Los Angeles county. The car was completely destroyed but Van Dyke was rescued by passers by and was not hurt.
Christmas is coming!
A Very Variant Christmas
Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.
The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?
Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.
Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.
Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.
Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.
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