Dick Van Dyke is prolific and well-liked in Hollywood, but the acting legend admits that the roles didn’t necessarily come because he was a favorite from the start.
“I’m not very good as a businessman. I would shoot a movie or something and come home and sit and wait for the phone to ring. I wasn’t aggressive. So I was often out of work, because I didn’t go out and look for it.” Van Dyke said this weekend CBS News on Sunday mornings. – It didn’t bother me.
Instead, Van Dyke said his “entire career depends” on entertainment.
“If I’m not enjoying it, I’m really bad,” he continued, adding, “It’s such a blessing to find a way to make a living that you love, that you wouldn’t work for anything. I feel so sorry for people who hate their jobs. I look forward to going to work every morning.”
Dick Van Dyke looks back on his iconic career at 98: ‘My whole life was ahead of me’ (Exclusive)
Dick Van Dyke turned 98 on December 13.
Courtesy of Laura Johansen/CBS
The actor, who turned 98 on December 13, will be honored with a two-hour special on Thursday Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic, with archival recordings and live performances of songs from his decades-long career.
“I am in the third generation. I get letters from little kids and that’s what I love,” he said. “They watch movies over and over again. I get a lot more mail today than I did at the height of my career.”
Dick Van Dyke’s life in photos
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Dick Van Dyke, Julie Andrews, Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber in ‘Mary Poppins’. Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty
While he’s grateful for his life, one that includes marriage to makeup artist Arlene Silver and four children — Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie Beth — with late ex-wife Margerie Willett, Van Dyke admitted there’s one thing he’d change.
“If I had known that I would live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. Yes, because I went through that whole period of alcoholism,” he explained, adding that Silver “makes sure” he goes to the gym three times a week.
Dick Van Dyke sweetly praises wife Arlene Silver ahead of her 98th birthday: ‘You look like a movie star’
Ahead of his 98th birthday, Van Dyke also told PEOPLE that he still finds joy and gratitude “every day of my life.”
“My wife brings me a cup of coffee in the morning. I get it in bed. They treat me like a king here,” he said, referring to his home in Southern California.
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Dick Van Dyke and Jane Seymour go out for ‘fun and scares’ on Halloween.
Jane Seymour / Instagram
Despite the joy, Van Dyke is also in the midst of a “sad moment” as he has outlived friends including Norman Lear, who died on December 5 at the age of 101.
“I [once] he had a bunch of friends there to say nice things to,” he admitted, “but Mary Tyler Moore, Morey [Amsterdam] and [Rose Marie]Carl Reiner, Norman Lear — all the people I’ve always loved and hung out with are gone, so I have to make new friends.”
Fortunately, the acting legend doesn’t have to go far for that. “I’m happy to say that people are coming to me,” he added. “I don’t have to go looking.”
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Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic premiering Thursday at 9pm ET on CBS.
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