Dick Van Dyke’s 4 Children: All About Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie Beth

Dick Van Dyke’s legacy extends far beyond his iconic role as Bert in the Disney classic Mary Poppins. He also had four children, Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie Beth, with his late ex-wife Margie Willett, to whom he was married for 36 years.

“They all turned out great, I’m glad to say,” said Dick USA Today 2011. “Not a horse thief in the group.”

Willett grew up with Dick in Danville, Illinois, and married a radio show actor Bride and groom In 1948 he said Guard. The couple’s first son, Christian Van Dyke, arrived in 1950. He was followed by a brother, Barry, and two sisters, Stacy and Carrie Beth. The couple separated in 1984, and Dick began a relationship with Michelle Triola. Dick and Triola never married, but lived together for more than 30 years. Willett died of pancreatic cancer in 2007, and Triola two years later of lung cancer. Dick married Arlene Silver in 2012.

All four of Dick and Willett’s children made their Hollywood debuts early, appearing in cameos The Dick Van Dyke Show, Diagnosis: Murder and Dick Van Dyke’s new show, according to MeTV. “It’s one way to see your grown children,” Dick joked to CNN in 1998. “Barry’s teenage sons were on the show, and I had my daughter Stacy on the show as well. That’s nepotism to the max!”

According to Barry, Dick was also very funny off camera. “He was a great father,” he said Galactica 1980 the star said in an appearance on Born famous 1987. “He was a child in a human body and he was in tune with us all the time. … He gave me great things: How to make the right decisions, how to be yourself. These things meant enough to me that I gladly and proudly passed them on to my children.”

However, Dick, who was named Father of the Year by the National Father’s Day Committee in 1967, was not without problems. “I tried to be a good role model for my children, but I was an alcoholic for 25 years, which inevitably affected family life,” he said. Masked singer contestant said Guard 2016. “When I went to therapy, I realized I was repeating my father’s mistakes.”

Still, Dick told the publication that his children have turned out to be “truly admirable,” adding: “Margie has done the work, but I’ll take some of the credit.”

The Emmy winner, who celebrated his 97th birthday on December 13, 2022, is the grandfather of at least seven grandchildren and the great-grandfather of several more. On Father’s Day 2023, Dick gushed about his growing family.

“I never realized what I started when I first had kids. But, I’m amazed and grateful to have lived long enough to spend Father’s Day with some of my children, grandchildren AND great-grandchildren!! All wonderful, non-toxic people!!” he wrote on Instagram.

Here’s everything you need to know about Dick Van Dyke’s four children: Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie Beth.

Christian Van Dyke

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Van Dyke’s eldest child, Christian, was born in 1950. He started in show business early, and made his acting debut on January 31, 1962. The Dick Van Dyke Show like young man Frankie in a fedora snapping his fingers.

However, unlike his famous father, Christian did not stay long in Hollywood. He attended Occidental College in Los Angeles before going to Arizona State University to earn a law degree, according to Cascade Business News.

After graduating, Christian practiced law in Oregon, serving as a Deputy District Attorney in Corvallis, an Assistant State’s Attorney in Salem, and the District Attorney in Marion County. He even worked as a corporate consultant for Nike and later as the vice president of marketing for Patagonia.

Christian became a dad in 1974, when his then-wife Caroline Heller gave birth to a daughter named Jessica Lee. In April 1987, Jessica died at the age of 13. The Associated Press reported that she contracted chicken pox and had complications from Reye’s syndrome, which causes swelling of the brain and liver.

The couple had at least two more children, including a son and a daughter.

As for his own father, Christian still cares for his father: said Dick Guard in 2016 that his son had “doubts” about his marriage to makeup artist Arlene Silver, who is 46 years his junior, but eventually came to his senses. After we exchanged vows in 2012, he said, ‘Dad, I get it,'” Dick recalled.

As of 2017, Christian lived in Bend, Oregon.

Barry Van Dyke

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The second of Dick and Margie’s children, actor Barry Van Dyke was born on July 31, 1951. He was passionate about his father’s work and stayed with the field long after his 1961 appearance. Dick Van Dyke show at the age of 9.

Despite his early interest in the craft, however, he was not a child actor, as Dick made his son wait until he was older to pursue an acting career. “He wanted me to have my own childhood. He told me that if I still wanted to act after I graduated from high school, then that would be fine,” Barry told Los Angeles Times in 1994.

Growing up in Mandeville Canyon and Encino, California, Barry recalled moving around a lot as a child. “You were always the new kid,” he continued Born famous.

He was also bad at school. “He wasn’t a good student,” Dick recalled of his son in the same interview. – He had problems at school just because he didn’t do his homework.

When Barry was 9, the family settled in LA for Dick’s first sitcom, where the younger Van Dyke son visited his father on set. “We knew he was on TV and he watched the show and we knew it was successful, but we didn’t hang out with a lot of showbiz guys,” he told LA Times.

As a teenager, Barry worked at a local movie theater, where he met his future wife, Mary Carey, at the age of 16. Later he worked as a gofer at Dick Van Dyke’s new show, taking notes and gaining production experience. He said LA Times that his father also helped him find an agent, which enabled him to get jobs as an extra and in minor roles in films and shows, e.g. Galactica 1980, Air wolf and casino.

In 1974, he and Mary were married. The couple share four children: sons Carey, Shane and Wes, and daughter Taryn. “He’s an amazing father. An absolutely amazing father, much better than I was,” Dick said on Born famous. “He is devoted to his family, that is his primary interest, priority.”

Barry’s big acting break came in 1993, when he joined his father’s series Diagnosis: Murder, playing Detective Steve Sloan. “It’s easy for me to fall into that role,” he said LA Times. “My dad mostly plays himself. You see the real him. All that warmth and humanity really comes through. So I’m usually playing myself. So their relationship is mostly ours.”

The dynamic duo also starred in a series of Hallmark movies Murder 101. “I’d work with him anytime,” Barry said in 1987.[He is] the best to work with, very creative. … He set a good example.”

Barry last acted in 2019 Heavenly deposit. He is also a grandfather: Carey has several children, including Ava, Gracie and Jane, with his first wife Anne Coolbaugh; Shane welcomed a son named Kayden with wife Julie Schreiner in October 2021; and Wes has two children, Kyle Mae and Conor, with his wife Aisling.

Carey and Shane, both actors and screenwriters, wrote a script that was later developed in 2022. Don’t worry dear.

Stacy Van Dyke

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Like her older brothers, Stacy Van Dyke, born around 1955, appeared on screen alongside her famous father in roles such as Sally on The new Dick Van Dyke Show and Carol Hilton on Diagnosis: Murder.

According to her father, Stacy also caught an acting bug early on. “I’ve watched Stacy perform in school plays for years, but I never realized how good she was until we did a benefit party together in Phoenix,” Dick said of his eldest daughter’s talent ahead of her TV debut.

In the 1970s, Stacy performed at the Windmill Dinner Theater in the Barnstormers, according to Phoenix Theater History. In July 1979 Republic of Arizona reported that Stacy married Mike Breen, a musician who was also part of the group. Little is known about Stacy’s personal life, as she mostly stayed out of the public eye.

She was last seen in a 2002 TV movie Diagnosis Murder: City Without Pity, starring Carol Sloan. In 2017, she and her husband released a recording of “Away In A Manger” ahead of the holidays.

Carrie Beth Van Dyke

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Carrie Beth Van Dyke is the youngest of Dick’s children. Born in 1961, she was the last of her siblings to appear on The new Dick Van Dyke Showstarring in two episodes of the series in the early 70s.

Carrie spent most of her life out of the limelight. In 1983, she married an actor and musician named Kevin McNally, who would later appear in 19 episodes Diagnosis: Murder. The couple also met while working at the Windmill Dinner Theatre. In 2015, McNally released a track on SoundCloud called “Searching Your Eyes”; he said he wrote and recorded the song when he and Carrie first started dating. The song also features her sister Stacy and Stacy’s husband Breen.

The couple later moved to LA and had two children. They celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 2008.

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Source: HIS Education