Dick Van Dyke Tells How A Legend Was Made

For more than 50 years, Dick Van Dyke has delighted us with his Tony-winning work on Broadway, his Emmy-winning turns on television and his larger-than-life film roles. Van Dyke has become something of an American institution: It's Mom, apple pie, baseball and Dick Van Dyke.

Now meet the legendary Van Dyke on the set of his long-running CBS series, "Diagnosis Murder." Find out how he thinks television has changed over the years, who he names as his favorite leading lady and what he would have done differently if he had it to do all over again.

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On a soundstage in California's San Fernando Valley, there's detective work going on. Well, sort of. The cast and crew of the long-running hit series "Diagnosis Murder" are busy taping one of the last shows of the season.

I sit down with Dick Van Dyke, the CBS drama's executive producer who also stars as Dr. Mark Sloan.

To say that Van Dyke is a legend is an understatement. Van Dyke is arguably one of the most beloved entertainers of our time.

As we chat, his famous smile brings back a flood of wonderful childhood memories for me.

One of my first and fondest memories of Van Dyke's work is of him playing Bert in the classic "Mary Poppins" with Julie Andrews.

But for millions, Van Dyke was already a household name before the 1964 feature came out. He had won a Tony Award for "Bye Bye Birdie" and starred in the big-screen version of the musical a year before the Disney movie was released. Van Dyke also earned his place in television history on the famed "Dick Van Dyke Show."

However, Van Dyke's showbiz journey started much earlier.

"I started out during the war in high school as a radio announcer," Van Dyke tells me. "All the announcers got drafted and I got a job.

"I played nightclubs. I had a partner. And I did television game shows. I think I've done everything but Shakespeare. When I went into it as a kid, I was just hoping to get a job," he says with a laugh.

Wait, back up. Game shows?

Oh, yes.

Van Dyke hosted "Mother's Day" and "Laugh Line" in the late '50s. But he says the story that he turned down the chance to host "The Price Is Right" isn't true.

"When they were testing ('The Price Is Right') out, I was the emcee," Van Dyke says. "At the time, I thought, 'Gee, they should have given me the job.' But I realize I would still be doing it today."

"Price Is Right" host Bob Barker, despite recent surgery, is still going strong after 25 years.

But it's really the TV audience that lucked out when Van Dyke wasn't offered the hosting job. It's hard to imagine what television would have been like without "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

There's Something About Mary
"I'm most proud of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'" he says of the hugely successful comedy that ran five seasons and garnered him three Emmy Awards.

"It was just a labor of love. Every day we looked forward to coming to work," he says. "We all worked, rewrote every day and just worked hard on it. And we were very proud of it. We knew we did the best we could every week."

And, after a lifetime in showbiz, who does Van Dyke name as his favorite leading lady?

"Mary Tyler Moore, without out a doubt, far and away," he says without hesitation.

Moore starred with Van Dyke as his wife, Laura Petrie, and helped to make "The Dick Van Dyke Show" a classic.

But Moore wasn't Van Dyke's choice to play his onscreen wife.

"She had auditioned for the part of Danny's daughter for the 'Danny Thomas Show,'" Van Dyke tells me. "Well, Danny had a schnoz on him, and Mary had this little button nose, and Danny said, 'She couldn't possibly under any circumstances be my daughter.'

"But when they were looking around for someone for our show, (the producers) all remembered her. 'That girl with the little nose, yeah, what's her name? With the three names.' And they called Mary in and they loved her."

I ask Van Dyke about the first time he worked with Moore and whether they hit it off immediately.

"Right away. When we did the pilot," Van Dyke says. "She had never done comedy. Mary picked it up so fast; the natural ability was just there. She just blossomed so quickly. It was a wonderful thing to see."

"The Dick Van Dyke Show" launched Moore's career and she would go on to star in her own award-winning "Mary Tyler Moore Show."

Family Programming
"It's amazing it's also the longest I've ever had a job," Van Dyke says. "We're in our seventh year and I never did seven years of anything."

Van Dyke is talking about his current television gig on CBS' "Diagnosis Murder," where every week, his meddling character manages to solve a murder using clever detective work and a little good old-fashioned snooping.

The show is not only a "family show" for all ages to watch, but a Van Dyke family show as well.

Son Barry Van Dyke plays his father's onscreen son, Lt. Steve Sloan. And a slew of Van Dyke's grandchildren, including Barry's son Shane Van Dyke, have had recurring roles.

I ask the elder Van Dyke if it's fun to have the family involved.

"Yes, that's the joy of it. That's what's really fun," he says.

Gone is Van Dyke the television legend. Now it's just a proud grandpa who tells me, "My grandson (Shane) is featured, and he's playing a leading role in these scenes."

"Diagnosis Murder" is considered one of the best shows for families currently on television. I ask Van Dyke how he thinks television in general has changed over the years.

"I often wonder if we could do 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' today," he says.

"There are very interesting issues we could address, but with (show creator and producer) Carl Reiner, it would have always have been in good taste. We could treat serious subjects without offending everybody."

And what's the problem with television today?

"Now, shock value is everything and everyone is trying to outshock everyone else and it's getting worse and worse and worse," Van Dyke tells me. "And a lot of tradition, a lot of ethics and morals are going out the window, I'm afraid -- and to our detriment."

Van Dyke also points to the viewers.

"But you know something, you have to blame the audience partly," he says. "Because if you show that junk, they'll tune in by the millions, so it's partly their fault."

But don't expect Van Dyke to change his programming any time soon.

"After all these years, I think the audience trusts me to deliver something that's family (oriented), and I try very hard to live up to that," he says.

Parting Ways
So what is a legend like Van Dyke most proud of?

"Oh, I don't know. The wonderful longevity that I've had in this business," he says. "I've been in it for 52 or 53 years, over half a century. Beyond that, 'Mary Poppins' is the movie I'm most proud of and had the most fun doing."

And what would Van Dyke do differently if he had it to do all over again?

"If I had it to do again, I would study," he says. "I didn't study anything. I just kind of picked it up as I went along.

"I would study dance. I'd study voice. I'd study acting. I didn't even start dancing into until I was in my 30s, when I discovered I could move fairly well. And I thought, 'Why didn't I study when I was kid?' Because then I would have had so much more fun."

I tell him, tongue-in-cheek, that I think he has done pretty well over the years, considering he skipped his homework.

What do you think?

Photos by Jeff Lorch and
courtesy of the unofficial "Dick Van Dyke Show" Web site.

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