‘Mary Poppins’ Star Karen Dotrice Reveals Dick Van Dyke’s On-Set Pranks

If you grew up watching Mary Poppins and thinking it must have been fun to be one of the child actors, Karen Dotrice has news for you: you are absolutely correct. The actress, who played Jane Banks in the film and appears as a talking head in the new PBS special American Masters: Starring Dick Van Dyke, which premieres on the channel on December 12, 2025 at 9/8c, remembers her experiences on set as “such good fun.”

And much of that fun, she recalls, came courtesy of “big kid” Dick Van Dyke, who was prone to pranks and pratfalls whenever the cameras stopped rolling. “He’d do anything for a laugh,” Dotrice recalls. “Because he was a big kid, he kept we kids incredibly entertained.”