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Dick Van Dyke [1925-0] American

Rank: 101
Actor

Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke is an American actor, comedian, writer, singer, dancer, and producer whose career in entertainment has spanned almost seven decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke and father of Barry Van Dyke.

Forgiveness, Future, Humor, Patience, Peace, Women

Quote	Tags	Rank
Women will never be as successful as men because they have no wives to advise them.	Women	101
Once you get the kids raised and the mortgage paid off and accomplish what you wanted to do in life, there's a great feeling of: 'Hey, I'm free as a bird.'		102
I never wanted to be an actor, and to this day I don't. I can't get a handle on it. An actor wants to become someone else. I am a song-and-dance man, and I enjoy being myself, which is all I can do.		103
I've made peace with insecurity... because there is no security of any kind.	Peace	104
My brother and I laughed a lot as kids. We came up in the middle of the Depression, and neither one of us knew we were poor. We had nothing, but we didn't know it.		105
I've retired so many times now it's getting to be a habit.		106
I was the class clown, you know, that kind of thing, and I gathered around me a group of guys who also were silly. I was in all the plays and everything. But I don't know, at that time show businesses looked like the moon, you know, it was so far away. I wanted to be a radio announcer.		107
I've been talking about retiring for years. It's my standard answer to the question, 'What are your future plans?' The truth is, I'll always want to do things that are worthwhile or fun.	Future	108
I do miss the rhythms of comedy. And I've never been able to perform very well without an audience. The sitcoms I've done had them. It was like doing a little play.		109
I never had a lot of drive, but because I had family responsibilities, I had a lot of tenacity - the tenacity of a drowning man.		110
When I was a kid, I loved all the silent comedians - Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin. And I used to imitate them. I'd go to see a Buster Keaton movie and come home and try things out I'd seen. I learned to do pratfalls when I was very young.		111
But I wish they would make a musical of some kind. I miss musicals so much. You don't see them anymore.		112
No, I did night clubs right here in Los Angeles. My partner, Phil Erickson, put me in the business, a guy from my home town, a dear friend who we just lost a couple of months ago.		113
I was a 'Laurel and Hardy' nut. I got to know Laurel at the end of his life, and it was a great thrill for me. He left me his bow tie and derby and told me that if they ever made a movie about him, he'd want me to play him.		114
I think, the 'Van Dyke Show' and 'Mary Poppins' are two of the best periods of my life. I had so much fun, I didn't want it to end.		115
We had all week to rehearse. An audience would come in at the end of the week and we'd our little show. Most of the ad- libbing happened during the week on the show.		116
In my seventies, I exercised to stay ambulatory. In my eighties, I exercise to avoid assisted living.		117
The secret to keeping moving is keeping moving.		118
But once we got on the air, everybody except Morey Amsterdam pretty much stuck to the script.		119
I loved to fall down.		120
I'm really in retirement. My career is over. I'm just playing now and having a great time. I like to keep busy, and I'm doing what's fun for me.		121
Here's the truth. Your teens and twenties are your Plan A. At 50, you're assessing whether Plan B or Plan C or any of the other plans you hatched actually worked. Your sixties and seventies, they're an improvisation.		122
I cannot tell you what it means when children recognize. This is about the third generation for me. And when kids that small recognize me, it really pleases me, very gratifying.		123
I think it's being thrown at the wolves, we call it in our business.		124
I think the saddest moment in my life just happened two months ago. My old nightclub partner passed away, Phil Erickson down in Atlanta. He - I owe him everything. He put me in the business and taught me about everything I know.		125
When I was a kid, I had ambitions for being a television announcer, which was before television took off, you know, in the late '40s. And just through necessity, going out looking for work, I was starting to sing, and dance, and act, and I never expected to do that, nor to have any success at it at least.		126
I can't work with my brother without laughing.		201
I'm not a loner. I have to have a life partner.		202
My wife, as proud as she was of me, hated show business for good reasons. There was something about the spouse always being pushed out of the way, shoved aside. She wanted to get away from it.		203
I've always been a bit of an orphan, because actors say, 'Well, he's more of a dancer.' And dancers say, 'No. He's really a singer.' And singers say, 'No. He's an actor.'		204
My career is over. I'm just playing now and having a great time. I like to keep busy, and I'm doing what's fun for me.		205
Bob Hope, like Mark Twain, had a sense of humor that was uniquely American, and like Twain, we'll likely not see another like him.	Humor	206
I wanted to be a radio announcer.		207
No, no, it was the relationships. That was that group. People believed that Rob and Laura were really married in real life. You know, a lot of people believed that.		208
I did a 'Golden Girls' once, which shot in front of an audience, and that went well. I had a good time. But I need an audience, for comedy at least.		209
I have four kids, seven grandkids, and four great-grandkids. Maybe I can become a great-great-grandfather if I hang on!		210
I asked Fred Astaire once when he was about my age if he still danced, and he said 'Yes, but it hurts now.' That's exactly it. I can still dance, too, but it hurts now!		211
Somebody asked what I wanted on my gravestone. I'm just going to put: 'Glad I Could Help.'		212
I wanted to be Stan Laurel, then I wanted to be Fred Astaire and then Captain Kangaroo. I actually started out as a radio announcer when I was 17 and never left the business, so that's literally 70 years.		213
I wrote a little autobiography about how luck has to do with everything. It's called 'My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business.' A publisher came to me and said, 'Write a book,' so I did. I wanted to call it 'Everybody Else Has Got a Book.'		214
I went from my mother to my wife. And to this day, I can't bear to be alone.		215
They did ask me to do 'Dancing With The Stars;' I said I can do one show, but on that show you have to come up with a new number every week, and I told them that I think I'm a little past that stage.		216
I sing and dance. That's my job.		217
'The Dick Van Dyke Show' was the most fun I ever had and the most creative period of my life.		218
I was the worst game show host that ever lived, and I knew it.		219
Put me on solid ground and I'll start tapping! At my age they say to keep moving.		220
One day in '61, I was looking in the Santa Monica phone book for a number, and there it was: Stan Laurel, Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. I went over there and spent the afternoon with them. And pumped him with questions. I must have driven him crazy. I spent a lot of happy hours at Stan's house on Sundays just talking about comedy.		221
When I get some budding young comic who'll come up to me and say, 'What was it like to do it in those days?' I try to be as gracious to him as Stan Laurel was to me.		222
I get little kids who recognize me from 'Mary Poppins,' and it just delights me because it's our third generation.		223
I don't play golf. I have more fun singing and dancing.		224
I got into a Broadway show before I ever sang and danced. I learned how after I got in the show.		225
There's a lot of very funny people I'd love to work with that I've never met, of course. I love Steve Martin and Jim Carrey.		226
I married somebody half my age, and everybody thought I was crazy, but she is just an absolute angel.		301
So at 16 I got a job at the local radio station. And I was working after school and weekends. I did the news; I did everything. I did - played records.		302
All of us involved say 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' was the best five years of our lives. We were like otters at play.		303
Today, if you're not an alcoholic, you're nobody.		304
I learned everything that I know about comedy and about show business and a lot about life from Carl.		305
A lot of violence, a lot of gore in it, and I just didn't want to do that kind of thing.		306
I don't have any children; I have four middle-aged people.		307
I don't think we've got much of a chance to tell you the truth. But our main problem is our audience skews a little older than most shows, and I don't think our people can stay up that late. I certainly can't.		308
I grew up in Danville, Illinois, right in the middle of the state.		309
I have four children and I have seven grandkids.		310
I never made a good movie.		311
I think most people will tell you that. They can go along and, while they're denying that they are addicted, say it's stress this, it's this, it's that. But I - it's - I think - I really believe there is a gene. Some people become addicted and others don't.		312
I turned down some movies that were quite good. mainly on the basis of taste.		313
I was always in show business but in many ways was not really of show business. I didn't move in show business circles, particularly, still don't do it.		314
My kids are so much better parent than I was.		315
My son Barry, of course, has been on from the beginning. And his son Shane is playing now a med student regularly on the show. And at one point or another, I've had all four of his kids on the show.		316
Oh, I had an idea for a pilot of my own at the time, and then Carl sent me about eight scripts and simply I threw my idea out the window because the writing was just so good.		317
Oh, well, my first love is comedy or singing and dancing.		318
Probably one of the happiest moments, outside the birth of all of my kids, was the first time we won an Emmy, that the show won an Emmy. That was a big night.		319
So as my kids will tell you, they had a pretty normal life.		320
So I think we're kind of an alternate choice for people who have had it with sex and violence.		321
Stan said he used to keep Hardy late, make him miss his golf game, and really get him mad.		322
You know, I'm almost out of the habit of watching episodic television now.		323
I like 'The Office.' I particularly like the British version with Ricky Gervais. Of course, I liked the 'Seinfeld' show a lot. I thought that was an awfully good show.		324
As wonderful as they were, my parents didn't teach me anything about self-discipline, concentration, patience, or focus. If I hadn't had a family myself, I probably never would've done anything. Marriage taught me responsibility.	Patience	325
When I started having kids, I thought, 'I don't want to do anything they can't watch.'		326
I've had a lot of writers, in particular, who said they got into writing because of the 'Van Dyke Show.' They said it looked like fun.		401
I played a killer twice. Once on 'Matlock,' on Andy Griffith's show, I got to play the killer.		402
I was lucky to get the kinds of parts I wanted. I always said I didn't want to do anything my kids can't see.		403
I've won several Emmys, a Tony and a Grammy, so maybe somebody will let me have an Oscar, and then I'll have a full set.		404
My favorite unknown movie is 'The Comic.'		405
'Mary Poppins' was one of the best experiences of my life.		406
When I auditioned for 'Bye Bye Birdie' on Broadway, Gower Champion said, 'You've got the job!' I said, 'Mr. Champion, I can't dance.' He said, 'We'll teach you what you need to know.'		407
Rob Petrie is who I really am - in personality and general ineffectiveness.		408
I worked nightclubs all through my 20s, and I was a teetotaler.		409
Do you know that I was the anchor on the 'CBS Morning Show?' And my newsman was Walter Cronkite.		410
I watch 'Al Jazeera.' They have news that you can't find anywhere else. They do great documentaries, too.		411
I'm always announcing my retirement. I'm still not retired.		412
I found out retirement means playing golf, or I don't know what the hell it means. But to me, retirement means doing what you have fun doing.		413
Jon Stewart kills me. I love him. And Bill Maher. He does an hour on HBO. But entirely political. It is awfully rough, but he does make me laugh.		414
Emotionally, I'm about 13.		415
In the best of all worlds, the producers would take some responsibility for the kinds of things they're putting out. Unfortunately, they don't.		416
I didn't even start dancing until I was in my thirties, and it was like flying.		417
In Bernie Sanders, I see a man saying that the emperor has no clothes while everyone around him insists they see clothes. Whether or not he makes it to the White House, I hope and pray that everyone hears the alarm he is sounding now; it may be the last voice we ever hear.		418
Somebody sent me a British magazine listing the 20 worst dialects ever done in movies. I was No. 2, with the worst Cockney accent ever done. No. 1 was Sean Connery, because he uses his Scottish brogue no matter what he's playing.		419
It's more in my nature to be optimistic, I think. I'm one of those people who gets up on the right side of the bed in the morning.		420
Everyone should dance. And everyone should sing. People say, 'Well, I can't sing.' Everybody can sing. That you do it badly is no reason not to sing.		421
I have a beautiful, young wife who sings and dances, so there's a lot of duetting going on at my house.		422
Once you're dead, your worries are over.		423
A lot of actors seem to dislike typecasting these days. The funny thing is, that's a fairly recent development. It used to be that actors wanted to be typecast so audiences could remember them and identify with them.		424
Working with my son was like falling off a log. I had so much fun doing it.		425
I cannot live alone.		426
The thing I'm most proud of is my family, the way they've turned out.		501
All that nipping and tucking doesn't make you look younger - only stranger.		502
Just knowing you don't have the answers is a recipe for humility, openness, acceptance, forgiveness, and an eagerness to learn - and those are all good things.	Forgiveness	503
There are no sure answers, only better questions.		504
Don't worry so much. Most of the things you worry about never end up happening.		505
If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.		506
I'm kind of proud of being a love child.		507
Unfortunately, the spouses of performers have a terrible, terrible life. They get shunted aside, pushed aside, ignored.		508
Divorce is something that I never dreamed would happen to me. But it did.		509
I'm a very neat person.		510
I love musicals, but I find it's just so deadening. You know, 30 takes, you do a little piece here and a little piece there. There's hours and hours of waiting. And to me, that's as far away from real performance as you can get.		511
My memory's not too good.		512
Television's going, as far as I'm concerned, downhill, and I'm an anachronism.		513
I'm the Steven Spielberg of Malibu.		514
The years have been just full of surprises for me, and a lot of fun.		515
I swim, go to the gym, and do a little dancing every day and a little singing.		516
My life has been a magnificent indulgence.		517
'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' was a movie that I repeatedly turned down. The movie's producer, Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli, known for his tight-fisted control of the James Bond movie franchise, desperately wanted to re-team Julie Andrews and me after the success we'd enjoyed with 'Mary Poppins.'		518
My wife didn't like Hollywood or its stars, but she made an exception when, in 1972, we were invited to dinner - cooked by Frank Sinatra.		519
The Horny Toad in Cave Creek has great food. When I'm in Arizona, I have at least one meal there. I have a daughter who lives out there, and Dee Dee Wood, who was the choreographer on 'Mary Poppins,' lives out there. I still get out there once in a while, but not in the summer.		520
I never had a lot of confidence in myself.		521
I have a lot of friends who say that one of the freedoms of being older is you don't care what other people think, which I don't think is right. You care what other people think, but if you're comfortable in your own skin, that doesn't bother you.		522
I pay attention to the news. I take the 'New York Times.' I do the Saturday crossword.		523
I've always wanted to learn kick boxing.		524
I don't think parents can protect their kids in this media-nut culture.		525
There are no more Walt Disneys anymore.		526
The American people hit the streets and did something that the government wouldn't do: the Civil Rights Act. It didn't go down well with the corporate world.		601
When I was a kid, I had ambitions for being a television announcer, which was before television took off, you know, in the late '40s.		602
Dick Martin was a good buddy, and he was always a lot of fun to have around.		603
I've always thought if I could pick my interviewer, it'd be Charlie Rose, who I think is the best.		604
I'm not cantankerous.		605
For some reason, as time gets short in life, wasting time escaping through entertainment bothers me.		606
Pandering to the scandal hungry public is a total lack of responsible journalism.		607
I was born in the Coolidge administration. Can you believe that? So I've seen a lot of politics.		608
I was 5 years old when the stock market crashed; I lost everything.		609
My father made about $25 a week. We always lived just on the edge.		610
The first time I met Mary Tyler Moore, I thought she was just beautiful, but I thought she was a little young.		611
I'm an old, white-haired guy. If I'm not recognized, I'm treated pretty much like every other elderly. But if people recognize me, it's a whole different thing.		612
When you're a kid, you lay in the grass and watch the clouds going over, and you literally don't have a thought in your mind. It's purely meditation, and we lose that.		613
That rule about having to act one's age? I just don't buy it.		614
Every morning I have something to do, I'm better off. It's bad to get up and not have something to do.		615
My maternal grandfather owned a grocery store that also sold kosher meat. He did well.		616
As for my studies in school, I was a solid student. I was strong in English and Latin, but I got lost anytime the subject included math. I wish I had paid more attention to biology and science in general, subjects that came to interest me as an adult. I could have gotten better marks, but I never took a book home, never did homework.		617
I love to harmonize.		618
It's quite hard to act yourself all the time.		619
I never even had a bachelorhood: I went straight from my parents' home to a marriage.		620
I'm crazy about Judi Dench.		621

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