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Dick Van Dyke
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Trivia
Dick Van Dyke often hosted game shows when he was a struggling actor. He hosted "Mother's Day" in 1958 and "Laugh Line" in 1959 but turned down "The Price Is Right" in 1956.
His romantic companion for the last couple decades has been Michelle Triola Marvin.
Brother of entertainer Jerry Van Dyke.
Son Barry and Grandson Carry also work on Diagnosis Murder with him.
Daughter Stacy guest starred on Dianosis Murder in Murder in the Family. Grandson Shane guest starred in two episodes of Diagnosis Murder.
According to "Those Funny Kids: A Treasury of Classroom Laughter" by Dick Van Dyke, by age eleven Mr Dick Van Dyke had grown to 6'1"
Is ambidextrous (both left AND right handed).
Served in the U. S. Air Force.
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Lanky, likable comic actor best known as the pratfallprone TV writer Rob Petrie in the beloved sitcom "The Dick Van Dyke Show," (1961-66), which earned him three Emmy awards. He'd already starred in the musical Bye Bye Birdie (1963, recreating his Broadway role), the timeless Disney classic Mary Poppins (1964, as Bert the chimney sweep, sidewalk artist and one-man band), and What a Way to Go! (1964, as one of Shirley MacLaine's many husbands). After the demise of his TV series, however, he repeatedly failed to find movie vehicles worthy of his enormous talent. Divorce American Style (1967) was an intelligent comedy in which he and Debbie Reynolds were cast against type, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) was a mediocre musical fantasy with Disney aspirations, and The Comic (1969) was a sincere but unsuccessful attempt to fashion a portrait of a self-destructive silentscreen clown. Most of the others weren't even up to that level: The Art of Love (1965), Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN (1966, for Disney), Fitzwilly (1967), Never a Dull Moment (1968, for Disney), and Some Kind of a Nut (1969). Cold Turkey (1971) was a biting satire that stood out from the crowd. Van Dyke seemed to have a hard time finding his footing again even on television, with two failed series and a season with Carol Burnett; admitting that he was an alcoholic, he played such a character in the TV movie The Morning After (1974). He also starred as a priest accused of murder in the failed feature The Runner Stumbles (1979). In 1990 Warren Beatty cast him against type as a crooked D.A. in Dick Tracy and in 1992 he launched a series of TV movies as a doctor/sleuth that became the weekly series "Diagnosis Murder" in 1993. His brother Jerry is also a comic actor; his son Barry costars with him on his newest TV series. |  |
