Dick Van Dyke Gives Health Update as He Celebrates 100th Birthday

Dick Van Dyke may be 100 years old, but he’s still feeling as fit as a fiddle! On Friday, December 12, one day before his centennial birthday, the beloved Mary Poppins star revealed that he felt “so lucky” not to be experiencing any “ache or pain” at his age. Noting that his wife of 13 years, Arlene Silver, 54, is a bit of a “health nut,” he told ABC News that he still manages to head to the gym at least three times per week.

“I think that saved me from the pain. That’s good advice for anybody.”

Still, that doesn’t mean that some things aren’t more difficult than they were once upon a time. The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang actor said he misses the amount of “movement” he used to have.

“I’ve got one game leg from I don’t know what,” he added. “And dance — I still try to dance.”

Turning the focus to his career, Van Dyke quipped that he’s played a lot of “old men” over his more than 70 years as a professional actor, but he’s not nearly as “angry and cantankerous” as his characters have been.

“I don’t know any other 100-year-old,” he said playfully, “but I can speak for myself.”

As for fans who are interested in learning more about Van Dyke, he explores his health, his incredible career, and his best advice in his new book, 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to to a Happy Life, which was released on Nov. 18.

“The funniest thing is, it’s not enough. A hundred years is not enough. You wanna live more, which I plan to.”

Dick Van Dyke Refused a Role in a Major Franchise

Dick Van Dyke & Julie Andrews star in Mary Poppins

Buena Vista Distribution Company, Inc.

From ’60s classics such as Mary Poppins, Bye Bye Birdie, and the Dick Van Dyke Show to slightly more modern ventures like Diagnosis: Murder, The Simpsons, and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, the iconic actor has truly made a genre-defying mark on the film industry — but there was one huge role that he chose to let slip by.

During a November appearance on the Today show, he admitted he was once asked to star as James Bond in the 1969 spy flick On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but he eventually decided to pass for one key reason.

“Have you heard my British accent?” Van Dyke, who hails from West Plains, Missouri, recalled telling film producer Barbara Broccoli at the time.

While he came to realize that it probably would have been a “great experience,” he worried at the time that his audience wouldn’t have “accepted it” from him, as the character was very different from the comedic types that he had become known for playing in that era.

The role later went to George Lazenby — his one and only appearance as Bond in the expansive franchise.

Regardless of the jobs that he did or didn’t take, according to his book, Van Dyke wants his work and the messages behind them to be remembered when he’s gone — not just who he was as a person.

“I don’t care how long the memory of me, Dick Van Dyke, lasts in the world after I’m gone. I care about the survival of what I’ve shared with the world — humor, compassion, a zest for living, a love of music.”