Dick Van Dyke turned 100 this weekend, which feels less like a milestone and more like a quiet victory lap for one of the last performers who truly bridged vaudeville, television, film, and Broadway. It has been more than sixty years since he danced across London rooftops with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and anchored one of the most influential sitcoms ever made, yet his presence still feels oddly contemporary—buoyant, generous, and curious.

To mark the occasion, theaters around the country are screening a new documentary, Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration, a look back at a life spent making physical comedy look effortless and joy look sincere.

Van Dyke rose to prominence with The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran on CBS from 1961 to 1966 and quietly redefined what television comedy could be. Around the same time, he became part of Disney history as Bert, the chalk-dancing chimney sweep in Mary Poppins, a role that also had him playing the elderly banker Mr. Dawes, Sr. Decades later, he returned to that world as Mr. Dawes, Jr. in Mary Poppins Returns, closing a loop few actors ever get the chance to close.

He was never confined to one medium. On Broadway, Van Dyke won a Tony Award for Bye Bye Birdie, then reprised the role in the film adaptation. Over the years he collected a Grammy and multiple Emmy Awards, and later reinvented himself yet again as the genial doctor-sleuth on Diagnosis: Murder, a role he played well into his seventies.

Offscreen, Van Dyke’s life was not without struggle. He became sober in the 1970s and spoke openly about alcoholism at a time when public figures rarely did. That honesty, like so much of his career, was quietly influential.

Reaching 100 has given him a new perspective on aging—particularly on the way he once portrayed it.

“I played old men as angry and cantankerous,” he said in a recent interview. “That’s not really how it feels. I don’t know any other hundred-year-olds, but I can speak for myself.”

That outlook runs through his recent book, 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life, which reads less like a prescription and more like a distillation of temperament. He frequently credits his wife, makeup artist and producer Arlene Silver, with keeping him grounded and engaged.

“She gives me energy,” he said. “She gives me humor, and support.”

Van Dyke was born in West Plains, Missouri, in 1925 and grew up in Danville, Illinois, where he was already the class clown, absorbing the rhythms of silent-film comedy. His first performance came early—around kindergarten age—when he played the baby Jesus in a Christmas pageant.

“I said something that cracked the congregation up,” he recalled. “And I liked the sound of that laughter.”

Disney formally recognized that lifetime of work in 1998 when Van Dyke was named a Disney Legend, but the title feels almost redundant. His work had already become part of the cultural fabric.

Selected Fantasy and Science Fiction Roles

While not known primarily for genre work, Van Dyke has made several memorable appearances in fantasy and speculative films over the years:

• Mary Poppins (1964) – Bert / Mr. Dawes, Sr.
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) – Caractacus Potts (fantastical adventure)
• Night at the Museum (2006) – Cecil Fredericks (fantasy-comedy)
• Mary Poppins Returns (2018) – Mr. Dawes, Jr.

Even at a century old, Dick Van Dyke doesn’t feel like a relic. He feels like a reminder—that optimism, physicality, and kindness can be crafts, honed over a lifetime, and still practiced right up to the end of the dance.

Dick Van Dyke is 75% of the way to EGOT status. He’s won six Emmies, one Grammy, and one Tony. He hasn’t won an Oscar yet, but he’s said he has no plans to retire, so it’s not impossible. In 1995 he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. He received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2012. In 2017 he received the Britannia Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. He’s been nominated twice for Golden Globe Awards, He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1993. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2020.

Please join us in wishing Dick Van Dyke a Very Happy Birthday! At 100 years, every day is a blessing. May he have as many more days as the Universe allows.