The Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke is less than a month away from celebrating his 100th birthday. In a new interview, Van Dyke is revealing that he “feels pretty good for 100” ahead of this landmark birthday.
Van Dyke Feels ‘Really Good’
“I feel really good for 100,” Van Dyke, 99, told People Magazine. “Sometimes I have more energy than others — but I never wake up in a bad mood.”
“I feel like I’m about 13,” he added with a laugh.
Van Dyke is currently promoting his new book 100 Rules for Living to 100. In it, he discloses many stories from his extraordinary life.
“Each rule springs from a story in my own life, which I believe has stuck itself in my memory for a good reason. Because it had some broader emotional significance for me,” he stated.
Van Dyke Is An Eternal Optimist
Van Dyke is set to turn 100 on December 13. With just a few weeks to go before his birthday, Van Dyke remains an eternal optimist.
“People say ‘What did you do right?’” he said. “I don’t know. I’m rather lazy. I’ve always thought that anger is one thing that eats up a person’s insides — and hate. And I never really was able to work up a feeling of hate. I think that is one of the chief things that kept me going.”
“There were things I didn’t like, people I don’t like and disapprove of,” he continued. “But I never really was able to do a white heat kind of hate. My father (Loren Van Dyke) was constantly upset by the state of things in his life and it did take him at 73 years old.”
Van Dyke’s father died in 1972 after a battle with emphysema.
Van Dyke Doesn’t Fear Death
With his 100th birthday just a few weeks away, Van Dyke is reflecting on what’s next for him.
“The end of my life is so much closer,” he admitted. “When you expire, you expire. I don’t have any fear of death for some reason. I can’t explain that but I don’t. I’ve had such a wonderfully full and exciting life. That I can’t complain.”
Van Dyke went on to credit his 54 year-old wife Arlene Silver with keeping him young.
“She’s responsible for keeping me in the moment,” he said. “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.”
“What I left in the way of children’s entertainment and children’s music — that’s my legacy,” he concluded. “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’s Positive Attitude
As for how he stays so positive, Van Dyke said that’s never been difficult for him. Indeed, he has always had a naturally positive outlook on life.
“I think I’ve decided that people are born with an outlook,” he reflected. “I just think I was born with a brighter outlook, I look at the horizon, I think some people are born just to have to fight against a downward spiral. And after 100 years, I think I’m right.”
“I want to thank the public for giving me such a wonderful life,” Van Dyke concluded.
Van Dyke is a true living legend, and there will never be another like him. We’d like to wish him a very happy 100th birthday, and many more to come.
God bless you, Dick Van Dyke!