The Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke is just two months away from turning 100. In a new interview, Van Dyke is revealing that he was brutally mocked on his beloved 1968 classic movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Van Dyke Mocked On Movie Set
Van Dyke, 99, starred in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang alongside Sally Ann Howes and Lionel Jeffries. Though Van Dyke looks at the film itself positively, he had a difficult experience on set making it that has stuck with him to this day.
During a Vandy High Tea charity event that was held at his home in Malibu, California, Van Dyke recalled his first day on the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang set. He had just gotten into costume and was heading over to makeup when he heard the movie’s director Ken Hughes talking to the makeup artist.
Van Dyke was shocked when he heard Hughes and the makeup artist talking about his “hooter.” Indeed, this was a derogatory term for his nose.
“I heard him say, ‘What about the hooter?’” Van Dyke remembered. “And all my confidence drained out of me, all I got was nose jokes. I never thought I had a big nose.”
“Do I have a big nose?” he asked. His wife Arlene Silver, 54, quickly responded by assuring him “no.” She added that his nose fits his face “perfectly.” Silver happened to be working as a makeup artist herself when she met Van Dyke at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2006. They went on to marry in 2012, and they’ve been devoted to each other ever since.
Van Dyke went on to say that he’d never been insecure about his nose before that very moment. He was so upset by the mockery that it ruined his first day on this movie set.
“The first day was not good,” he admitted.
Van Dyke’s Positive Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Memory
Thankfully, things improved from there and Van Dyke still had fun moments making Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. His wife reminded him of the hilarious scene in which his character Potts straps rockets to his back on a runway. Needless to say, it doesn’t take long for things to go haywire, and hilarity ensues.
Van Dyke has never forgotten filming that particular scene.
“I went to the dressing room, it had burned my socks off my feet, I didn’t feel anything,” he revealed. “I took my shoes off, and my socks were gone, and I never felt a thing.”
Despite this, even with all the “crazy” stunts he did on set, Van Dyke “never really had a bad accident.”
Van Dyke’s Upcoming 100th Birthday
Van Dyke is preparing to celebrate his 100th birthday on December 13. The former Mary Poppins star addressed this landmark birthday during his Vandy Tea event.
When asked about his birthday, Van Dyke replied, “That’s right. I’m not officially a hundred until December. Two months. Two months.”
“It’d be funny if I didn’t make it,” he jokingly added.
We wouldn’t find that very funny, Mr. Van Dyke!
Getting serious, Van Dyke proceeded to open up about what this birthday means to him.
“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,” he confessed. “And it is frustrating because I don’t know what I did right. Other than her [Silver], I didn’t do anything right.”
Van Dyke is a true legend, and there will never be another one like him. While it’s sad that he was made fun of on the set of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we’re glad that he still has some positive memories of making this beloved movie.
God bless you, Dick Van Dyke!