Dick Van Dyke can now add history-making Emmy winner to his expansive résumé!
The legendary actor, 98, took home the Daytime Emmy for Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama Series on Friday, June 7, at the 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Van Dyke had been nominated for his role of Timothy Robicheaux on Days of Our Lives. He is the oldest-ever actor to win the award.
“Thank you. I don’t believe this. I feel like a spy from nighttime television,” Van Dyke gushed in his acceptance speech. “I’m the oldest nominee in history. I’ve been playing old men all my life. If I’d known I was going to live this long I’d have taken better care of myself.”
He continued, “I’m 98 years old, can you believe it? This tops a lifetime of 80 years in the business. I love you, God bless.”
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The Mary Poppins star was joined on Friday by his wife, Arlene Silver, and he made sure to give her a sweet shout-out in his victory speech.
“Trouble and strife, the love of my life. She played the cop who arrested me,” Van Dyke quipped.
After a long and illustrious acting career, Van Dyke made his soap opera debut in September 2023. His Days character, Timothy, was featured in a four-part arc alongside longtime cast member Drake Hogestyn.
“I said, ‘Don’t you have any parts for old people? Come on give me one.’ And he took me seriously and got me a part!” Van Dyke quipped to Access Hollywood in April 2023 of asking Hogestyn, his real-life friend, for a role on Days of Our Lives. “Some of the people have been doing it for 20 years. That’s all the homework I can do, watch one and see how they do it. The other thing, you have to hold, ‘Duh duh,’ there’s this thing of music, and we’ve said something exciting.”
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Van Dyke previously won a Daytime Emmy in 1984 and 2015 for his respective roles in CBS Library: The Wrong Way Kid and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Pirate Adventure. He also has earned five Primetime Emmy trophies for his classic sitcom, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and his variety show, Van Dyke and Company. The actor also has a Grammy Award and a Tony Award on his mantle. To complete EGOT status, Van Dyke just needs an Oscar win.
All in all, Van Dyke is grateful for his impressive career.
“If I’m not enjoying myself, I’m really bad,” he recalled on a December 2023 appearance on CBS Mornings. “It’s such a blessing to find a way of making a living that you love, that you’d do for nothing. I feel so sorry for people who hate their jobs. I look forward to going to work every morning.”
