The Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke is less than a month away from celebrating his 100th birthday. In a new interview, Van Dyke is reflecting on his life and revealing the toughest period of it.
Van Dyke’s Toughest Period Of Life
Van Dyke is currently promoting his new book 100 Rules for Living to 100. In it, he recounts his decades long career working on iconic projects like Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Dick Van Dyke Show. While Van Dyke is proud of his career, he also remembers how difficult it was to balance the demands of his professional career with raising four children with his ex-wife Margie Willett, who died in 2008.
“In the beginning I was [raising] in a family with no money. So the whole thing was getting some money together and getting a home,” Van Dyke told People Magazine. “I bought a home on the GI Bill, finally, but I think the toughest was I did game shows. I played nightclubs, I did about everything. At one point, I was doing a disc jockey show at 5 in the morning. And then at night I was working with a partner in nightclubs.”
“I was getting like three or four hours sleep in between. But that’s the only thing I can remember, is working so hard to get going, to get a foothold,” he continued. “After that I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
Van Dyke ‘Was Really Working Hard…’
Van Dyke acknowledges that his demanding work schedule likely had an impact on his family life.
“They probably got neglected at some point, because I was really working hard to get out of poverty, so to speak, but I haven’t had any complaints from anybody,” Van Dyke stated, referring to his family. “I think of how rare it is that a person gets to do for a living, what they love to do. Most people have to go sit in an office. I never forgot that I look forward to getting up every morning and going to work, because it’s what I would’ve done for nothing.
Van Dyke has been married to his current wife Arlene Silver, 54, since 2012. He credits her with helping him to stay youthful.
“She’s responsible for keeping me in the moment,” Van Dyke explained. “She kept me happy every day of my life, every day. She’s a joy. She can get me singing or dancing and she carries so much responsibility … I’m just lucky.”
How Van Dyke Wants To Be Remembered
While Van Dyke talks about both his personal and professional life in his new book, he also reveals how he wants to be remembered.
“What I left in the way of children’s entertainment and children’s music — that’s my legacy,” Van Dyke wrote. “I don’t think remembering me is that important. But it’s the music, the music we leave behind. For as long as children are proudly belting out their new word, ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,’ or singing and skipping along to ‘Chim Chim Cher-ee,’ the most important part of me will always be alive.”
Van Dyke is a true living legend, and there will never be another one like him. His 100th birthday is on December 13, 2025. We’d like to wish Dick Van Dyke a happy early birthday, and many more to come!