December 13 - Dick Van Dyke

Photo courtesy of today.com

On this day, in 1925, Richard Wayne Van Dyke was born in West Plains, Missouri. Dick grew up in Danville, Illinois as the older brother to another future entertainer, Jerry Van Dyke. Their family on their mother's side was deeply religious and Dick flirted with entering the ministry until he took a drama class in high school. From that point on, he was set on the career path of professional entertainer (incidentally, so were his classmates Donald O'Connor, of Singin' In the Rain fame, and Bobby Short, a well known cabaret singer). Dick actually dropped out of high school in his senior year to enlist in the Army Air Force during World War II, but was too underweight to be accepted. He did eventually enlist as a radio announcer and would spend the remainder of the war in Special Services entertaining troops stateside. Sixty years later he would finally obtain his diploma at the age of 78.

Following World War II, Dick returned to Danville as a local radio DJ. In 1947, he began touring West Coast night clubs in a mime act with partner Phil Erickson. By the early Fifties, the duo had migrated with their act to Atlanta and starred in a local television show. By the mid Fifties, the show came to an end and Phil stayed in Atlanta while Dick moved to New York City to try his luck there.

Dick made his Broadway debut in 1959 in The Girls against the Boys, a revue that ran for 16 performances and also starred Bert Lahr. The following year, he auditioned for a small role in Bye, Bye Birdie. He nervously improvised a soft shoe routine as part of that audition. The show's director offered him the lead. Dick told him that the only dancing he knew how to do was what he just did. The director said we'll teach you. And teach him they did. Birdie ran for 604 performances and earned Dick a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He would later star in the film version with Janet Leigh.

Dick had made various appearances on television starting in 1954, doing episodes of The Phil Silvers Show and The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, but it was in 1961 that his face became nationally known as the star of The Dick Van Dyke Show. A perfect storm of the comedy world of the early Sixties, the show also launched the career of Mary Tyler Moore and featured veteran comedians like Carl Reiner, Rose Marie, and Morey Amsterdam. Dick would pick up three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy and the show would win Outstanding Comedy Series four times over its five year run.

In the middle of his show’s highly successful run, Dick made his legendary entry into the Disney world. Walt knew with great certainty that he wanted Dick for the role of Bert, the chimney sweep, in Mary Poppins. According to Dick, he really didn’t even have to audition for the role. The other role he played for the movie, Mr. Dawes Senior, the head of the bank Mr. Banks works for, was an entirely different matter. Dick says that not only did he have to lobby hard for it, but that Walt secured a donation to CalArts from him as well. Mary Poppins herself would declare both parts to be practically perfect in every way if it wasn’t for one hardly mentionable thing: Dick’s cockney accent. Even huge fans of the movie have to admit it’s really bad. But apparently no one, not Julie Andrews, not Dick’s voice coach, not even Walt himself, said anything about it during filming, so can we really blame him for it? It’s become a (mostly) endearing part of the film, so the answer is probably no. Dick’s performance of the Sherman Brothers tune Chim Chim Cher-ee helped propel it to a Best Original Song Oscar and earned him a Grammy Award, along with his co-star, Julie.

Following Mary Poppins, Dick starred in two more films for Disney, neither of which was as successful. The first was Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. in 1966, an adaptation of the Daniel Defoe novel. The most notable thing about the film is that it is the only movie that Walt ever received a writing credit for. The second was Never a Dull Moment in 1968, a crime comedy that also starred Edward G. Robinson and kind of made its title a lie.

Throughout the rest of the Sixties, Dick starred in a string of mediocre comedies with the likes of James Garner, Shirley MacLaine and Debbie Reynolds. The highlight of the bunch would be the 1968 version of Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. With Dick as the Englishman Caractacus Pott (albeit with an American accent this time, he’d learned his lesson) and songs from the Sherman Brothers, Chitty is like Mary Poppins less successful cousin.

During the Seventies, Dick tried to capture lightning in a bottle once more on television. Another sitcom, The New Dick Van Dyke Show ran for three seasons from 1971-1974, but only earned its star a Golden Globe nomination. He tried again in 1976 with Van Dyke and Company, a sketch comedy show that only lasted three months (but still picked up the Emmy for Best Outstanding Comedy-Variety Show). He joined the cast of The Carol Burnett Show for the last half of its last season and did various guest spots on shows like Matlock and Airwolf.

Dick’s next performance for Disney was as a villain, DA Fletcher, in Touchstone Picture’s 1990 action comedy Dick Tracey. The positive reviews from that role led to his next big success on the small screen. After a guest appearance on Jake and the Fat Man, Dick’s character, Dr. Mark Sloan, got a set of TV movies and then his own series. Diagnosis: Murder began in 1993 and gave Dick an opportunity to work with his son, Barry, who is also an actor. For eight seasons, the father and son duo solved crimes together.

Following the end of Diagnosis: Murder, Dick has continued to pop up occasionally on both the big and small screens. He reunited with Mary Tyler Moore for a critically acclaimed televised version of The Gin Game. He took another villainous turn for the Night at the Museum series of films. He even made a cameo on his little brother Jerry’s hit show, Coach. And, in just a few days, Dick will return to theaters with a cameo in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, at the ripe old age of 93.

After a career spanning over seven decades, Dick has earned his place as entertainment royalty. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. He earned SAG’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. And, in 1998, he became an official Disney Legend for his enduringly lovable performance of the chimney sweep who may or may not be from England.