Richard Wayne Van Dyke, better known as Dick Van Dyke, is an actor, dancer, and singer. He has starred in a lot of television shows as well as movies. Dyke’s career has spanned nearly seven decades in television, film, and stage.
What Is the Net Worth of Dick Van Dyke?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the estimated net worth of Dick Van Dyke is $50 million. Perhaps, Van Dyke is popular for the roles that he played in iconic musical movies such as the 1963 film titled “Bye Bye Birdie”, the 1964 film “Mary Poppins”, and the 1968 film “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”.
Early Life
Van Dyke was born in West Plains, Missouri, on December 13, 1925. His mother was Hazel Victoria and his father was Loren Wayne “Cookie” Van Dyke who was a salesman. He was raised in Danville, Illinois. Jerry Van Dyke, who is featured as his brother in The Dick Van Dyke Show, is his younger brother.
During his young years, he wanted to have a career in the ministry, though, during his high school days, a drama class encouraged him to be a professional entertainer.
Van Dyke went on to teach Sunday school in the Presbyterian Church where he was an elder, and he went on to read such theologians as Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, throughout his acting career.
Van Dyke left high school in 1944 when he was in his senior year in order to join the United States Army Air Forces for pilot training during World War II.
But since he was underweight, he was denied enlistment many times but was ultimately accepted for service as a radio announcer before his transfer to the Special Services and entertaining troops in the continental U.S. In 2004, he completed his high school diploma.
Personal Life
On 12 February 1948, whilst appearing at the Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, he got married to the former Margerie Willett on the radio show named “Bride and Groom”.
The couple had 4 children together named Christian, Barry, Stacy, and Carrie Beth. In 1984, the duo divorced following a long separation. Van Dyke was in a relationship with his longtime companion Michelle Triola Marvin in 1976. For over three decades, the couple stayed together, until her demise in 2009.
When he was 86, on February 29, 2012, he married 40-year-old Arlene Silver who is a make-up artist. The duo first met at the SAG awards six years ago.
He involved his children and grandchildren in his TV endeavors. His son Barry Van Dyke, grandsons Shane Van Dyke, and Carey Van Dyke together with other Van Dyke grandchildren and relatives featured in many episodes of the long-running series Diagnosis: Murder.
However, Stacy Van Dyke wasn’t popular in show business, she appeared as Carol Sloan Hilton, the estranged daughter of Dr. Mark Sloan in the Diagnosis: Murder Christmas episode “Murder in the Family” Season 4. All his children are married and have 7 grandchildren. During the 1980s, Van Dyke’s son Chris was a district attorney for Marion County, Oregon.
His granddaughter Jessica Van Dyke died in 1987 due to Reye syndrome, and that resulted in him performing some commercials so that he can spread awareness among the public about the risk that aspirin poses to children.
Career
Van Dyke started to work as a radio DJ in his hometown during the late 1940s. In the early 1950s, he also became part of a comedy duo alongside the pantomime performer Phil Erickson, and they went on tour together across the West Coast and also featured on a local television show named “The Merry Mutes”, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Van Dyke’s other work on television includes the 1954 “Chance of a Lifetime”; “The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom” on ABC; “The Phil Silvers Show” which ran from 1957 to 1958; and “The Polly Bergen Show” on NBC.
He made his debut on Broadway in 1959 in a production of “The Girls Against the Boys”. Later, he appeared in the lead role in “Bye Bye Birdie” (1960-1961). In 1961, Van Dyke’s role in the show brought him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor; and the other four Tony Awards were also won by the musical.
Starting in 1961, he appeared in his own CBS sitcom titled “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, in which he played the role of comedy writer Rob Petrie. The show ran through 1966, and during this period, Van Dyke took home 3 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
Furthermore, the series won 4 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. Prominent actors including Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Jerry Paris, Ann Morgan Guilbert, and Mary Tyler Moore also appeared alongside him on the show.
His next project was an unrelated sitcom named “The New Dick Van Dyke Show” (1971 to 1974). The show couldn’t taste enough success as compared to his first show, although it still brought him a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.
His third show titled after him, “Van Dyke and Company”, a short-lived sketch comedy show in which Andy Kaufman and Super Save Osborne also appeared. The show just ran for three months, although it still won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy-Variety Series.
Apart from his television appearances, he also had an extremely successful career in film. In 1963, he made his first film appearance in an adaptation of the successful musical titled “Bye Bye Birdie”, in which he appeared on Broadway.
Later, Van Dyke featured in what has come to be seen as a classic film, the 1964 film Walt Disney’s “Mary Poppins” in which he played the character Bert, who has a cockney accent; his efforts at the accent is extensively assumed to be one of the worst-ever accents that featured in a movie.
During the rest of the 1960s, he featured in a series of movies and all of them did quite badly at the box office, though 1968 musical named “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” is an exception.
Even his film roles impacted his television project; following he starred in the 1990 film “Dick Tracy”, in it, he played the role of D.A. Fletcher and was given the chance to portray the character of Dr. Mark Sloan in an episode titled “Jake and the Fatman”.
Van Dyke ended up getting his own television show in 1993, featuring the Sloan character, “Diagnosis: Murder”. The show ran until 2001. A lot of his family members, along with his son Barry Van Dyke, and grandsons Shane Van Dyke and Carey Van Dyke, have made appearances on the show.
Other Projects
Apart from being a well-known actor, Van Dyke is also an established author. He has published 5 books first in 1967 named “Altar Egos”, 1970 “Faith, Hope, and Hilarity”, 1975 “Those Funny Kids!”, 2011 “My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business”, in 2015 “Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging”.
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