December 13: Happy Birthday Dick Van Dyke

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https://lebeauleblog.com/2017/12/13/...ke/#more-96314

Dick Van Dyke is celebrating his 92nd today. His classmates in high school included film actor Donald O’Connor and cabaret singer Bobby Short. After working as a radio DJ and then a night club entertainer, he made his Broadway debut in 1959, and a year later won a Tony as Albert Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie. But he really became well known when CBS gave him the lead role of Rob Petrie in his own sitcom (The Dick Van Dyke Show) in 1961. The show was created by Carl Reiner, who also costarred, and also featured a young actress named Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie. The series won four Emmys as Outstanding Comedy Series, while Van Dyke won three of his own for Outstanding Lead Actor.


Van Dyke made his film debut in Bye Bye Birdie, reprising his stage role, in 1963. A year later came Mary Poppins; the actor shared in a Grammy for the soundtrack album. He kept busy in film through the end of the 1960s, starring with yesterday’s headliner Edward G. Robinson in Never a Dull Moment, and playing Caractacus Pott in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He has worked sparingly in film since then; he played D.A. Fletcher in Dick Tracy, and appeared in the Night at the Museum films. His return to series television in The New Dick Van Dyke Show was not a success, but he had another hit in the 1990s, starring as Dr. Mark Sloan on Diagnosis: Murder. He continues to work periodically, and will appear as Mr. Dawes, Jr., in Mary Poppins Returns.