Legendary entertainer Dick Van Dyke, has no intent of slowing down ahead of his 99th birthday and jokes he is looking for work instead.
Speaking to the press following his Creative Arts Emmy win on Sept. 7, Van Dyke reflected on his lengthy career and how he hopes to be remembered.
“For laughter … I hope for making people laugh for 75 years,” he said.
“I’ve been in the business 75 years. I can’t believe that I’m still here and performing. … I’m looking for work if anybody has.”
The 98-year-old accepted the award for “outstanding variety special” over the weekend, for his 2023 birthday television special “Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic.”
Throughout the CBS production, family, friends, and colleagues of Van Dyke came together to pay tribute to his career while celebrating his life and gifts shared over the years.
When asked what advice he would give young performers just starting, the “Mary Poppins” star pointed to perseverance.
“You have to stick with it. You’re gonna go through hard times and a lot of auditions ... but you have to stay with it. Be patient if you’ve got the confidence in yourself, and it’s very important to believe that you can do it,” Van Dyke said.
His latest win now has him tied with the late comedian Norman Lear, who won the Creative Arts Emmy in 2020 also at the age of 98, as two of the oldest winners of the award.
Van Dyke was accompanied on stage by his wife Arlene Silver, who worked as a producer on the special, commending her qualifications for the production as no one knows him better.
“The young lady who got this award, you may think of the word nepotism and I would understand it, but this lady got the job all by herself as producer of the Dick Van Dyke special because she knows me inside and out, and knows how I work, and don’t take no sass from anybody.”
In June, Van Dyke reached another Emmy milestone, becoming the oldest winner of a daytime Emmy award for his guest appearances on the popular soap opera “Days of Our Lives.”
The actor is one award win away from achieving his EGOT status—the acronym for someone who has won all four major American performing arts awards. When asked if he would attempt to get an Oscar trophy, Van Dyke quipped, “posthumously, possibly.”
He has won several Emmy Awards, a Grammy and Tony Award over the span of his career, which includes renowned credits in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” the original Broadway production of “Bye Bye Birdie,” and his influential sitcom “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
“I was thinking of doing—80 years in the business, I have a lot of stories to tell. I thought I'd just do a one-man show, like this, just sit and talk to the audience,” Van Dyke said.
Meanwhile, the pre-recorded Creative Arts Emmy award show will air Sept. 14 on FXX, and will also be streamed on Hulu starting Sept. 15 through Oct. 9.
