Dick Van Dyke has been giving his thoughts on his upcoming 100th birthday.
The entertainment legend was speaking to People ahead of the release of his new book, “100 Rules For Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life,” and his landmark centennial on December 13. He was talking to the publication for a feature in this week’s print edition.
Van Dyke has led an extraordinary life and enjoyed a glittering career spanning almost 80 years. Highlights include appearing in countless iconic movies, such as 1964’s “Mary Poppins,” 1968’s “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” 1990’s “Dick Tracy,” 2006’s “Night at the Museum,” and 2018’s “Mary Poppins Returns.”
He is remarkably positive and optimistic about becoming a centenarian.
Dick Van Dyke Feels Like He’s ‘About 13’
GettyDick Van Dyke jokingly told People that the thing that surprises him most about turning 100 is “The fact that I made it.”
However, he continued in more upbeat fashion, saying, “I feel really good for 100. Sometimes I have more energy than others — but I never wake up in a bad mood.”
With just a couple of weeks to go until his big birthday, Van Dyke joked again, saying “I hope I make it.”
Although he still feels great, the showbusiness veteran admits to being a bit hard of hearing and a little bit wobbly these days, and he uses a cane to navigate his memorabilia-filled Malibu mansion.
His humor, however, is still as cheeky and sparkling as it ever was. He still tells jokes and tinkers on his piano, which he tells People makes him “feel like I’m about 13.”
Dick Van Dyke’s aforementioned new book, “100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life,” has allowed him to share the ups and downs of his extraordinary life.
In it, Van Dyke also explains why he doesn’t fear death and details how he hopes to be remembered. He says, “Each rule springs from a story in my own life, which I believe has stuck itself in my memory for a good reason — because it had some broader emotional significance for me.”
Van Dyke Credits Laziness and His Wife, Amongst Other Things, for His Long Life
GettyIn trying to explain his long life and relatively good health for a man his age, Van Dyke said, “I don’t know. I’m rather lazy. I’ve always thought that anger is one thing that eats up a person’s insides — and hate. And I never really was able to work up a feeling of hate. I think that is one of the chief things that kept me going.”
He elaborated, “There were things I didn’t like, people I don’t like and disapprove of. But I never really was able to do a white heat kind of hate. My father (Loren Van Dyke, who died from emphysema in 1972) was constantly upset by the state of things in his life and it did take him at 73 years old.”
Van Dyke also admitted, “The end of my life is so much closer.” He went on, saying, “When you expire, you expire. I don’t have any fear of death for some reason. I can’t explain that but I don’t. I’ve had such a wonderfully full and exciting life that I can’t complain.”
The star also credited his wife, Arlene Silver, 54, for keeping him young. He said, “She’s responsible for keeping me in the moment. She kept me happy every day of my life, every day. She’s a joy. She can get me singing or dancing and she carries so much responsibility… I’m just lucky.”
He then touched on his incredible legacy, saying, “What I left in the way of children’s entertainment and children’s music — that’s my legacy. I don’t think remembering me is that important. But it’s the music, the music we leave behind. For as long as children are proudly belting out their new word, ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,’ or singing and skipping along to ‘Chim Chim Cher-ee,’ the most important part of me will always be alive.”
That is something that absolutely can’t be denied.
Make sure you check out Dick Van Dyke’s new book, “100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life,” which is out now from Grand Central Publishing.
