Dick Van Dyke recently attended the Vandy High Tea event in Malibu, California and joked about his landmark 100th birthday, which is coming up later this year in December. The icon quipped: “That’s right. I’m not officially a hundred until December. Two months. Two months. It’d be funny if I didn’t make it” (via People).
Reflecting on the milestone birthday in a more serious tone, Van Dyke added: “I brag sometimes about how I made it to a hundred and the truth is, if I had known I was going to live this long, I would’ve taken better care of myself. And it is frustrating because I don’t know what I did right. Other than her [wife Arlene], I didn’t do anything right.”
Van Dyke married Arlene Silver in 2012. The couple was in attendance at the Vandy High Tea event in order to raise funds for the The Van Dyke Endowment of the Arts and the upcoming Dick Van Dyke Museum. Earlier this year, the actor made headlines after he dropped out of a different fan event because he apparently wasn’t feeling well.
“When you’re 99-and-a-half years old, you have good days and bad days, and when you’re 40 years old, you have good days and bad days,” Silver explained at the time. “Unfortunately, today is not a good day for him, and he’s sick that he can’t be here.””
In an interview with Variety last year to mark his CBS special “Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic,” the actor spoke lovingly about his career in Hollywood and said: “I enjoyed everything I did, and not a lot of people can say that.”
“I left a good example for a young generation,” he added about what he thinks his legacy is in Hollywood. “I think I have a positive effect on kids. And I can tell by the mail I get from kids that I’ve had a good effect. They want to emulate that behavior. And that, I think, is why what we really accomplish is worthwhile. I’m so happy the impact I had was a positive one, and I’m perfectly satisfied with that.”
Van Dyke will turn 100 years old on Dec. 13.
