As he approaches his 99th birthday this winter, Dick Van Dyke has made it clear he doesn’t plan on slowing down. With new credits piling up in his filmography as recently as last year, it’s clear he’s making good on his promise. However, Van Dyke has also admitted that his memory has not gone unaffected and it’s taken some significant information in its wake.
An icon of both television and film, and honored as a Disney Legend, Van Dyke has been a mainstay on the screen since 1947. With the 2013 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and the 2021 Kennedy Center Honors to his name, he has been transparent about all the ways he continues to feel young—and all the ways he has unmistakably felt the impact of time.
Dick Van Dyke revealed that he has memory troubles that caused him to forget a famous job he took
Van Dyke has said time and again he plans on continuing to work for as long as he can. This attitude, however, is in spite of an ongoing short-term memory issue he has contended with for some time now.
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“I can’t remember what I had for breakfast,” Van Dyke shared with Deadline, “but, my long-term memory is only getting better.”
During his discussion with the outlet, Van Dyke expressed plans to go on a one-man tour, while also sharing memories from throughout his influential career. When asked about his time in 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns, Van Dyke admitted, “I have to be honest, I can’t remember. I really can’t.”
Van Dyke first played Bert in the original 1964 musical fantasy comedy, portraying a jack-of-all-trades whose cockney accent remains a source of impassioned debate to this day and still gets a strong reaction from Van Dyke himself. In 2018, he returned to play the retired bank chairman Mr. Dawes Jr., a role originated by Arthur Malet in the original film from 60 years ago. In the ‘64 movie, Van Dyke also played Mr. Dawes Sr., and during the credits, he was listed as Navckid Keyd before the letters unscrambled to spell his name properly. The 2018 movie pulled the same trick as an additional surprise for the eagle-eyed fan.
Plans for the future are still plentiful
77 years—and counting—is a long time to maintain such momentum. But short-term memory seems to be the only hurdle Van Dyke is facing, as he risks no deficit of enthusiasm.
“Nobody ever tires of talking about themselves,” he joked with Deadline, sharing how he will never grow bored or fatigued from his relentless work ethic. If anything, however, it is the unyielding march of time in the world around him that has impacted Van Dyke in a way his own aging seems unable.
“There is a kind of sadness in [watching 98 Years of Magic],” he admitted, referring to the television show presented by CBS celebrating his remarkable life, “because all of the wonderful people that I loved and worked with over the years have gone.” He went on, “I realized I’ve outlived an entire generation… I miss Rose [Marie] and Morey [Amsterdam] and all the wonderful people I worked with over the years. They should have been there.”
Nevertheless, the show must go on and Van Dyke is making history along the way. He just did a stint on Days of Our Lives, which actually has him up for a Daytime Emmy nomination—no surprise, he’s the oldest person to ever receive this distinction, whether he wins or not. As a guest performer, Van Dyke played Timothy Robicheaux, an amnesiac whose four-episode arc had fans engrossed from the start. As for the ongoing arc of Van Dyke’s career, his followers are as excited as he is to see what comes next.
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