Dick Van Dyke has talked about the early years of his career when he was struggling.
The 99-year-old actor told People that he was so broke he had to take unusual jobs here and there to pay for his family.
‘In the beginning, I was [raising] a family with no money, so the whole thing was getting some money together and getting a home,’ the Mary Poppins star explained.
‘[My family] probably got neglected at some point because I was really working hard to get out of poverty, so to speak,’ added the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang actor.
The singer and dancer shared four children with his late ex-wife Margie Willett: Christian, 75, Barry, 74, Stacy, 70, and Carrie, 64. He married his current wife, 54-year-old Arlene Silver, in February 2012.
Dick Van Dyke has talked about the early years of his career when he was struggling. Seen in 1955
Dick shared four children with his late ex-wife Margie Willett – Christian, 75, Barry, 74, Stacy, 70, and Carrie, 64; pictured with his three oldest kids in 1961
Then he finally got his home.
‘I bought a home on the GI Bill, finally, but I think the toughest was I did game shows. I played nightclubs. I did about everything. At one point, I was doing a disc jockey show at 5 in the morning, and then at night I was working with a partner in nightclubs.’
At the time, Van Dyke ‘was getting, like, three or four hours [of] sleep in between’ the gigs, but he was focused on ‘working so hard to get going, to get a foothold.’
Once he did, he ‘enjoyed every minute of it.’
The Dick Van Dyke Show star will turn 100 on December 13. His new book, 100 Rules for Living to 100, is available now wherever books are sold.
He has also said that he is grateful for his career.
‘Most people have to go sit in an office. I never forgot that I look forward to getting up every morning and going to work, because it’s what I would’ve done for nothing,’ the star added.
The comedian praised his wife Silver for keeping his spirit young.
‘She’s responsible for keeping me in the moment,’ he said about his spouse. ‘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.’
Dick pictured in May 2021 at the 43nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors
In October Van Dyke has joked that it would be ‘funny’ if he ‘didn’t make’ his 100th birthday.
The Hollywood legend will celebrate his milestone birthday on December 13 but quipped that he is not guaranteed to reach three figures.
Speaking at the Vandy High Tea event in California, Dick said: ‘That’s right. I’m not officially a hundred until December. Two months. Two months. It’d be funny if I didn’t make it.’
Dick later suggested that he ‘would’ve taken better care’ of himself had he known he was going to live for so long and quipped that marrying his second wife is the only clever decision he has made.
He explained: ‘I brag sometimes about how I made it to a hundred and the truth is, if I had known I was going to live this long, I would’ve taken better care of myself.
‘And it is frustrating because I don’t know what I did right. Other than her (Arlene), I didn’t do anything right.’
Pictured with Mary Tyler Moore, his The Dick Van Dyke Show costar in 1964
Van Dyke and Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins in 1964
The beloved star has been a household name since the 1960s but previously confessed that he ‘never planned’ to become an actor.
Van Dyke told New York Magazine earlier this year: ‘My whole life was unplanned. Just the next opportunity that came along — one great thing after another. I never planned anything.
‘One job led into another one, and I just kept working and enjoying it. I’m a ham. I don’t know, something happens and I come alive and I want to perform.
‘I would have starved in any other business. Being on the stage — there’s nothing like it in the world for anyone who can experience it. I pity the people who can’t get on the stage. Good God, it was fun!’
