Van Dyke never really knew what he wanted to do in show biz until he was in his 30s. In the 1950s, he was a local TV personality in Atlanta and New Orleans. Then CBS signed him to host “The CBS Morning Show” with Walter Cronkite as his newsman.

Van Dyke graduated from that to being host of a TV game show that he said he hated.

“I said, ‘I can't do this the rest of my life,'” he said, “so I started going out and auditioning for Broadway shows. I read for everything but opera and ballet and I auditioned for Gower Champion. I sang a little tune and did a little soft shoe. He gave me some dance routines, and I was amazed to find I could do them.”

Champion cast him in the Broadway musical “Bye-Bye Birdie,” and Van Dyke won a Tony Award. Carl Reiner was so impressed, he starred him in “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” The sitcom ran from 1961-66 and was one of TV's most honored shows. It still airs today in reruns.

Van Dyke grew up doing impressions of Stan Laurel of the Laurel and Hardy comedy team of the early 20th century.

He was still enamored with Laurel the first time he visited Palm Springs in 1949 to play the Chi Chi nightclub as part of a comedy team.

“We rented a house that had been owned by Stan Laurel,” Van Dyke recalled. “I was so excited. At that time, you could walk from one end of Palm Springs to the other. It was that tiny.”

In the 1960s, he was looking through a phone book in Santa Monica when he came across the name Stan Laurel.

“I said, ‘No, it can't be,' but I called him up and it was him,” he recalled. “(Laurel) had heard of me and invited me over. So, I used to go visit him on Sunday afternoons. Danny Kaye and Jerry Lewis — a lot of comedians of that time went up there and paid their respects.”

Van Dyke was known as the master of physical humor in the 1960s. That opened a door for him to get to know another master of physical humor from the 1920s, Buster Keaton. He wound up delivering eulogies for Keaton and Laurel.

“Keaton was the best physical comedian of all time,” said Van Dyke. “I thought Stan did the best comedy. I thought he was better than (Charlie) Chaplin. As W.C. Fields said, ‘He was a ballet dancer.'”

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100218/LIFESTYLES01/2170372/1050/lifestyles01

Great article! It has always amazed me that CBS couldn't figure out what to do with Dick Van Dyke. And they tried him in a bunch of different things too! It finally took the genius of Carl Reiner and Sheldon Leonard to put him in the right role. And the rest as they say is history!

...after his CBS contract ended- "MOTHER'S DAY", a daytime "homemaking competition" series on ABC (1958-'59) [this was the one he probably loathed], and "LAUGH LINE", a prime-time "joke competition" show with guest comedian panelists [including Mike Nichols & Elaine May], during the spring and early summer of 1959 on NBC. Then, he filmed a CBS comedy pilot, "The Trouble With Richard", for the 1960-'61 season, which didn't sell...fortunately for him, as he was already cast in "Bye Bye Birdie" on Broadway.


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...after his CBS contract ended- "MOTHER'S DAY", a daytime "homemaking competition" series on ABC (1958-'59) [this was the one he probably loathed], and "LAUGH LINE", a prime-time "joke competition" show with guest comedian panelists [including Mike Nichols & Elaine May], during the spring and early summer of 1959 on NBC. Then, he filmed a CBS comedy pilot, "The Trouble With Richard", for the 1960-'61 season, which didn't sell...fortunately for him, as he was already cast in "Bye Bye Birdie" on Broadway.


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So NBC and ABC didn't recognize Dick's true talents either! He really bounced around a lot until he finally got his career on track with Bye Bye Birdie.

In a book on game shows by Jefferson Graham, he described hosting a game show as "being a pointer." After he was cast in "Bye Bye Birdie" he swore he would never do another game show.

Dick Van Dyke was also an early panelist on To Tell The Truth when it started in 1956. He was considered for hosting the original TPIR, but Bill Cullen was a better fit. Dick also proved to be a good dramatic actor in the CBS series Diagnosis Murder. He made better career choices than his brother Jerry Van Dyke. Not sure if this is true, but rumor has it that Jerry passed up the role of Gilligan to star in the TV bomb My Mother the Car. If that's true, that's a dumber career choice than McLean Stevenson leaving M*A*S*H.

...Jerry was also signed by CBS to an exclusive contract in 1962 (on the strength of his two-part appearance on his brother's series), but they couldn't figure out what to do with him, either. He also hosted a game show during the summer of 1963, "PICTURE THIS". After briefly being a regular on "THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW" and starring in an unsuccessful 1964 sitcom pilot, "MY BOY GOGGLE", Jerry severed his ties to CBS and became the star of NBC's "MY MOTHER THE CAR" (1965-'66).


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Dick Van Dyke was also an early panelist on To Tell The Truth when it started in 1956. He was considered for hosting the original TPIR, but Bill Cullen was a better fit. Dick also proved to be a good dramatic actor in the CBS series Diagnosis Murder. He made better career choices than his brother Jerry Van Dyke. Not sure if this is true, but rumor has it that Jerry passed up the role of Gilligan to star in the TV bomb My Mother the Car. If that's true, that's a dumber career choice than McLean Stevenson leaving M*A*S*H.
Jerry thought 7 castaways on a deserted island was a silly premise that would never work and so he passed on Gilligan's Island. Instead he signed on to a show about a guy whose dead mother is reincarnated as a car!?! Jerry thought this was a much more solid premise and that this series would last much longer than Gilligan's Island! Oops!!!! :crazy:

Dick Van Dyke hosting "The Price Is Right"? That would be interesting. But, then again-and this is not intended as a joke, given the last name of the person I'm about to mention-I once thought that the original version of TPIR was hosted by, of all people, and this was before I knew he was a movie star, VINCENT PRICE!