Legendary actor Dick Van Dyke has indicated two things that he'd like to be remembered for as he prepares to celebrate his 100th birthday on December 13.
Having been born way back in 1925, Van Dyke has lived through multiple wars, huge advances in technology and more than a dozen presidents.
Throughout all that, he's been keeping busy establishing himself as a star of the stage and screen, with titles including Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Dick Van Dyke Show forming just a few of those that the 99-year-old has been celebrated for.
In the last few weeks, Van Dyke has been looking ahead to his 100th birthday and reflecting on some of the things that have helped him reach the milestone age, most notably in a new book titled 100 Rules for Living to 100.
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Van Dyke credits his wife, Arlene Silver, as one of his secrets to a long life, as he noted in the book: "Arlene is half my age, and she makes me feel somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters my age, which is still saying a lot. Every day she finds a new way to keep me up and moving, bright and hopeful and needed."
Another key to staying young, according to Van Dyke, comes in the form of regular exercise, with the actor telling the Everybody Knows Your Name podcast he still goes to the gym 'three days a week'.
Despite still being full of life, Van Dyke has apparently given thought to which projects from his career he's most proud of, and seemingly would love to be remembered by.
Steve Boettcher, director of an upcoming documentary titled Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration, told The New York Post that there are two projects in particular he 'always talks about'.
"The two blessings that came to him were The Dick Van Dyke Show and Mary Poppins,” Boettcher said. “Those two are really the iconic things that he wants to be remembered for."
Premiering in 1961, The Dick Van Dyke Show featured Van Dyke in the role of Rob Petrie, a comedy writer who worked on the fictional Alan Brady Show and lived in New Rochelle, NY, with his wife and son.
It was just three years later that Van Dyke's other iconic project came along, with Mary Poppins releasing in 1964.
Van Dyke starred in the movie alongside Julie Andrews, who took on the titular character in the beloved family film, and he looked back fondly on its creation while chatting with People last month.
“I knew way before we started that we had a wonderful movie,” the actor said. “There was something…everybody was kind of affected by it.
“We knew we had something really valuable, really good to do. So we all did our best and enjoyed as much as we could. I can’t think of one thing that actually went wrong.”
Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration is set to be released in select theaters for two days only on December 13 and December 14.
Topics: Entertainment, Hollywood, Celebrity, Health, Film and TV
Emily Brown