Dick Van Dyke’s Wife, Arlene Silver, Had Never Seen Mary Poppins When They Met

Dick Van Dyke’s wife, Arlene Silver, says she never saw any of her Hollywood icon husband’s work when they met — including Mary Poppins.

It’s hard to imagine anyone who didn’t grow up singing “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “A Spoonful of Sugar” and “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” but on the latest episode of Ted Danson’s podcast Where everyone knows your nameVan Dyke, 99, told host and wife Mary Steenburgen that the 1964 Disney classic was among the many movies and TV shows he starred in that Silver managed to miss.

“She didn’t know who I was,” Van Dyke said of his first meeting with Silver backstage at the 2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards.

“No, that’s not true,” Silver, 53, corrected him. “Of course I know who he is. He’s Dick Van Dyke!”

Dick Van Dyke and Arlene Silver in 2012.

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In fact, Silver explained, one of the first things she ever told her husband-to-be was that she had “never seen anything he was in.”

“She never saw Mary PoppinsVan Dyke added.

Van Dyke, of course, played Bert the chimney sweep opposite Julie Andrews as the title character in the film, earning a 1964 Golden Globe nomination for his performance and, along with the rest of the cast, a 1965 Grammy Award for Motion Picture Score.

The cutest photos of Dick Van Dyke and his wife Arlene Silver together over the years

Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews in ‘Mary Poppins’ from 1964.

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The actor had already won a Tony Award in 1961 for his performance in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway, and won multiple Emmys for his sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show between 1964 and 1966.

“In a way, it was good for me, because she wasn’t too impressed or anything,” Van Dyke said of meeting Silver. “I was just a guy, you know?”

“It doesn’t sound like she was very impressed at all,” joked Steenburgen.

“I was a hard sell,” Van Dyke joked.

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Dick Van Dyke and Arlene Silver at the premiere of ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ in 2018.

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Dick Van Dyke’s life in photos

Van Dyke, who was previously married to Margie Willett from 1948 to 1984, explained that he was “totally in love” the moment he laid eyes on Silver, who is 46 years his junior. The couple got married in 2012.

In July 2024, the couple opened up about their 46-year age difference, with Silver admitting in an interview with Party tonight that it “scared” her at first.

“But that’s so unimportant. I think when you see us together, it’s like you don’t think about it at all,” she said. “We don’t think about it, we just meet in the middle.”

“I was lucky I didn’t grow up,” interjected Van Dyke. “It was meant to be.”

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Source: HIS Education