Dick Van Dyke’s wife explained why his old age has become a “curse” in recent years.
The legendary actor teamed up with wife Arlene Van Dyke for a recent Q&A at the Dick & Arlene Van Dyke Present Vandy Camp event in Malibu earlier this year.
Dick, 99, revealed that he and Ed Asner had plans to remake the 1970 sitcom The Odd Couple. However, the project came to a halt following Asner’s death at 91 in August 2021.
“That would’ve been such fun, and we lost it,” Dick said. “I’ve lost a lot of friends.”
Arlene, 53, chimed in, saying that her husband has “outlived everybody” in his life. “That’s the curse of living to almost 100,” she added.
Despite all the loss, Arlene said that Dick is “still so positive” about life.
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“Well, life’s been good to me,” he added. “I can’t complain.”
This is hardly the first time Dick has spoken candidly about losing his fellow friends and Hollywood stars.
During a December 2023 appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, Dick noted that “there’s no one left” when it comes to his famous friends. Thankfully, the actor is always “making new friends,” he said at the time.
“If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself,” Dick added during the same interview. “Yeah, because I went through that whole period of alcoholism.”
Yes, Dick is still working as he nears 100 years of age — but he wouldn’t consider himself someone who enjoys it.
“As a businessman, I’m not much good. I would do a movie and come home and just sit down and wait for the phone to ring. I wasn’t aggressive,” he recalled during the same Sunday Morning interview. “I was out of work a lot because I didn’t go out and look for it.”
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While Dick admittedly doesn’t have “a lot of drive” when it comes to working, the star knows he’s “very lucky” overall. The Mary Poppins star explained that his “whole career has depended on” having fun.
“If I’m not enjoying myself, I’m really bad,” he added at the time. “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.”
The actor will be 100 years old in December of this year.
“I’m pretty old,” Dick told a photographer in September 2024, months before his 99th birthday. “Just praying that I make it.”
