🔴 Website 👉 https://u-s-news.com/
Telegram 👉 https://t.me/usnewscom_channel
He’s still supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Dick Van Dyke wants to be remembered for two “iconic” projects as he celebrates his monumental 100th birthday on Saturday, Dec. 13.
“I think the two things he always talks about, the two blessings that came to him, were ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and ‘Mary Poppins,’” Steve Boettcher, director of the upcoming documentary “Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration,” exclusively told The Post.
“Those two are really the iconic things that he wants to be remembered for,” the filmmaker added.
“The Dick Van Dyke Show” premiered in 1961 and centered on Rob Petrie (Van Dyke), a comedy writer on the fictional “Alan Brady Show.”
The Carl Reiner-created sitcom revolved around Petrie’s life at home in New Rochelle, NY, with wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) and young son Ritchie (Larry Mathews), as well as his time at work with fellow writers Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam), Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) and their producer Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon).
“It was just serendipity,” Van Dyke said in 2015, nearly 50 years after “The Dick Van Dyke Show” ended in 1966.
“I’d still be doing the show if they let me,” the Hollywood legend, who won three Emmys for his role as Petrie, added. “It was the most fun I’ve ever had.”
“Mary Poppins,” meanwhile, was released in 1964 and starred Van Dyke as the hilarious chimney sweep Bert alongside Julie Andrews’ titular character and Karen Dotrice as young Jane Banks.
Although “The Dick Van Dyke Show” made him a household name, “Mary Poppins” was what solidified Van Dyke as an acting and comedy staple around the world.
“I knew way before we started that we had a wonderful movie,” the “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” star told People about the hit Disney classic last month. “There was something…everybody was kind of affected by it.”
“We knew we had something really valuable, really good to do,” he added. “So we all did our best and enjoyed as much as we could. I can’t think of one thing that actually went wrong.”
While Boettcher’s upcoming doc explores Van Dyke’s time on both “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Mary Poppins,” it also touches upon one of the “hidden gems” from the “Diagnosis Murder” star’s more than 80-year career.
“The Comic,” which Boettcher described as a “little-known movie” that “everyone hasn’t seen,” was released in 1969 and starred Van Dyke as silent-film comedian Billy Bright.
But unlike the usual family-oriented fare that Van Dyke had become known for, the Carl Reiner-written film was “a little darker” and ended “on a sad note.”
“It’s not typical Dick Van Dyke,” Boettcher told The Post. “But it shows the career of a comic who’s a silent motion picture star who has kind of aged out of the silent movie era.”
The movie, however, paid tribute to many of the classic icons that inspired Van Dyke to enter showbiz in the first place.
“I think what’s fascinating is it’s certainly a nod to that era, the era that he grew up with and watched movies in and emulated, whether it was the Stan Laurels of the world or those kinds of people like Buster Keaton,” Boettcher said.
“Those kinds of people he was nodding to in that film and honoring them,” the filmmaker added.
Van Dyke opened up about “The Comic” in a candid interview just over 40 years after the film’s release.
“We were excited about that,” he said in 2010. “We thought we had an authentic piece there. It showed the times. We went out and shot a lot of 16mm comedy schtick, a lot of which didn’t end up in the film.”
“It was an interesting movie, but opened and closed in the same week,” the “Bye Bye Birdie” star added. “We were kind of proud of it.”
As for “Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration,” Boettcher said that he and his team were “humbled” to be the ones telling the Hollywood great’s story.
“I think we’re all better because he’s made us laugh and made us smile and entertained us so long with such great music,” the director added. “That’s truly the legacy that he leaves.”
“What you see is what you get with Mr. Van Dyke,” Boettcher said. “He is just the most gracious, wonderful, charming guy. He’s kind of the last of a generation of entertainers, and I think [our] film reflects that.”
“Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration” hits select theaters for two days only on Saturday, Dec. 13, and Sunday, Dec. 14.