Dick Van Dyke

Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925 in West Plains, Missouri), usually credited as Dick Van Dyke, is a noted American television and movie actor. He is most famous for his starring roles on The Dick Van Dyke Show (with Mary Tyler Moore) in the 1960s and ' as Dr. Sloan in the 1990s.

Movies

Van Dyke slowly transitioned out of television into movie acting in Bye Bye, Birdie (1963), What a Way to Go! (1964) and, most notably, Walt Disney's Mary Poppins (1964), in which he played Bert, a Cockney chimney sweep, and also played, in heavy disguise, the elderly owner of the bank. His attempt at a Cockney accent (and his tendency to lapse into and out of it) was widely ridiculed (especially in the UK), but the very popular and innovative film also showed his versatility as a singer and dancer. One of his showcase songs, Chim Chim Chiree, won the Oscar for the film's songwriting team.

Related Topics:
1963 - What a Way to Go! - 1964 - Walt Disney - Mary Poppins - Cockney - Chimney sweep - UK - Chim Chim Chiree - Oscar

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After the mid-1960s, Van Dyke was in a number of relatively unsuccessful movies, though one, a children's film called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is still well-known, especially with the recent stage musical.

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