Dick Van Dyke, 98, Reveals How He Wants to Be Remembered After Creative Arts Emmys Win
Dick Van Dyke had a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious night on Saturday, September 7, as his latest TV special won an Emmy.
Dick Van Dyke 98 Years Of Magic, which aired on CBS in December 2023, won the Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) category during the first night of the Creative Arts Emmys. And as one of the executive producers, Arlene Van Dyke — Dick’s wife of more than a decade — took home one of the trophies.
“Thank you, that reception, I cannot tell you what it means,” Dick said as he and Arlene took the stage at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, before announcing that he’ll soon turn 99 and breaking into a dance, per People.
He then praised his wife, saying, “The young lady who got this award, you may think of the word ‘nepotism,’ and I would understand it, but this lady got the job all by herself as producer of the Dick Van Dyke special because she knows me inside and out, and knows how I work, and don’t take no sass from anybody. Arlene Van Dyke!”
Backstage, a reporter asked Dick — a four-time Emmy winner himself — how he’d like to be remembered. “For laughter, I hope,” he responded. “Hopefully for making people laugh for 75 years. I’ve been in the business 75 years. I can’t believe it, that I’m still here and performing.”
Then, with a smile, he added. “I’m looking for work if anybody [needs me].”
Dick — who’s famous for starring in The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis: Murder on television, Mary Poppins in film, and Bye Bye Birdie on stage and silver screen — made history this June as he became the oldest-ever winner of a Daytime Emmy, recognized for his work on the soap Days of Our Lives.
“I’m the oldest nominee in history. I can’t believe it,” he told the Daytime Emmys crowd, per Variety. “I was playing old men all my life. If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself!”
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