Dick Van Dyke

Trivia

• Often hosted game shows when he was a struggling actor. He hosted "Mother's Day" (1958) and "Laugh Line" (1959) but turned down "The Price Is Right" (1956).
• His romantic companion for the last couple decades has been Michelle Triola.
• According to his book "Those Funny Kids: A Treasury of Classroom Laughter", by age 11 he had grown to 6'1".
• Is ambidextrous.
• Served in the U.S. Air Force.
• He enlisted to be a pilot in the Army Air Corps during WWII, but initially did not make the cut because he did not meet the weight requirement, as he was underweight. He tried 3 times to enlist, before barely making the cut. He actually served as a radio announcer during the war, and he did not leave the United States.
• He and his wife Margie married on the radio show "Bride and Groom" because the show paid for the wedding rings, a honeymoon and household appliances. After their wedding, the Van Dykes were so poor that they had to live in their car for a while.
• Beat out Johnny Carson for the role of Rob Petrie on what later became "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961) .
• Won Broadway's 1961 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for "Bye, Bye Birdie." and a Grammy Award for the Mary Poppins (1964) soundtrack.
• His comic inspiration was Stan Laurel. He says he was able to find him by looking up his name in the phone book in Santa Monica, California, where Laurel lived. He called and Laurel invited him over. The two became good friends. When Laurel died, Van Dyke delivered his eulogy at the funeral.

Quotes

• "But at the time, I thought I would come out, because there was such a strange perception about alcoholism that people had serious character flaws, you know. They had weak wills or something. They had this image of, you know, a guy laying in on the street and skid row, whereas it can happen to normal, average middle-class guy."
• "It was a marvelous relaxer ... Jack Daniel's became my good friend. Then sometime in my early forties he turned on me."
• "I've made peace with insecurity... because there is no security of any kind."
• "I never wanted to be an actor and to this day I don't. I can't get a handle on it. An actor wants to become someone else. I am a song-and-dance man and I enjoy being myself, which is all I can do."
• "I've retired so many times now it's getting to be a habit."