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Dick Van Dyke has joked that it would be “funny” if he “didn’t make” his 100th birthday, as he admitted that he “should take better care” of himself. The Mary Poppins legend is just two months away from the major milestone birthday, with him set to celebrate on December 13.
However, he seems to have doubts that he will survive the short few weeks. Speaking at the Vandy High Tea event in California, Dick said: “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.” The Hollywood legend later suggested that he “would’ve taken better care” of himself had he known he was going to live for so long and quipped that marrying his second wife Arlene Silver in 2012 is the only clever decision he has made. He said: “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 (Arlene), I didn’t do anything right.”
Earlier in the year, Dick admitted that he never actually “planned” to become an actor and his whole life has been improvised. In an interview with New York Magazine, he said: “My whole life was unplanned.
“Just the next opportunity that came along — one great thing after another. I never planned anything.
“One job led into another one, and I just kept working and enjoying it. I’m a ham. I don’t know, something happens and I come alive and I want to perform.
“I would have starved in any other business. Being on the stage — there’s nothing like it in the world for anyone who can experience it. I pity the people who can’t get on the stage. Good God, it was fun!”
The Chitty Bang Bang star also reminisced about the first time he met Arlene when he was backstage at the SAG Awards in 2006.
He shared: “She walked by and without even thinking, I jumped up and said, ‘Hi, I’m Dick.’ I found out she was a makeup lady, hired her, and now we’ve been married 13 years.”
The star, who has been acting for more than 60 years, concluded: “I couldn’t be happier.”