Inside legendary actor Dick Van Dyke's colourful personal life

Dick Van Dyke has been entertaining the world for almost eight decades.

The multiple-award-winning singer, dancer, actor and comedian has had a storied career that's spanned the stage and screen, notably originating the role of Albert Peterson in Broadway's Bye Bye Birdie, for which he won a Tony Award, as well as taking centre-stage with classic roles in The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

His life off the stage and screen, however, has been no less under the spotlight – with two near-death experiences, complicated marriages and military service, the 98-year-old, by all appearances, is as colourful in his personal life as in his professional life.

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Cheated death twice under terrifying circumstances

Van Dyke left high-school during his senior year in 1944 – three years after the United States started its World War II campaign – to join the United States Army Air Forces as a pilot, but his near-death experiences were not from seeing combat.

In fact, Van Dyke was denied enlistment several times for being underweight before he was accepted to the service as a radio announcer, and he ultimately transferred to the Special Services to entertain troops across the Americas.

In 2004, Van Dyke received his high-school diploma, and six years later, the Diagnosis: Murder star fell asleep on a surf board – and awoke to the sight of fins encircling him.

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"I woke up out of sight of land," Van Dyke told Craig Ferguson at the time. "I started paddling with the swells and I started seeing fins swimming around me and I thought, 'I'm dead!'"

Van Dyke's fears of an untimely demise were eased when he realised the fins belonged to porpoises, and those porpoises actually helped push him back to the shore.

In 2013, Van Dyke once again was caught up in a scary situation, when his car burst into flames as he was driving along a freeway in California, and he was completely trapped in the vehicle.

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Luckily, a passer-by noticed someone was stuck inside the smoky Jaguar, and forced the car door open and dragged Van Dyke to safety.

Two off-duty nurses, who happened to be nearby, also checked the veteran actor was okay – and he was, he didn't require further medical attention.

Van Dyke even made a cheeky joke about the incident on X (formerly Twitter) the next day, writing, "Used Jag for sale REAL CHEAP!!" alongside a photograph of his wrecked car.

Dick Van Dyke's three great loves

The performer's love life is, in a word, complicated.

In 1948, Van Dyke married Margie Willett on the radio show Bride and Groom at Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Van Dyke and Willett's marriage included the birth of four children – Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie Beth – but their relationship was troubled.

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Van Dyke has been open about his battle with alcoholism, and he once spent three weeks in hospital for alcoholism-related treatment.

Weeks later, in 1972, Willett checked into the same hospital for treatment related to an addiction to prescription pills, and shortly after, she started to retreat to the couple's desert ranch more frequently as she pursued a sober lifestyle.

It was at this time Van Dyke began growing closer to Michelle Triola, his agent's secretary.

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"She was easy to talk to, she understood me," he wrote of Triola in his 2012 memoir My Lucky Life In And Out Of Show Business.

"I was drawn into a relationship. I was involved with a woman other than my wife. It was unbelievable. I was writhing in guilt. By 1976 I had to do something. I needed to be honest."

In 1976, Van Dyke and Willett separated, but the former couple didn't divorce until 1984 – at that stage, they had been married for 36 years.

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Willett, in 2008, died of pancreatic cancer, which is something Van Dyke said "deeply affected" him.

"Even though we were long divorced, with her death I lost a part of myself," he said of Willett.

Within one year of his ex-wife's passing, Triola, the Night at the Museum star's then-partner, died from lung cancer. The duo had been together since 1976.

"She spent her last week in a coma," Van Dyke explained in his memoir of Triola's passing in 2009. "Her doctor said she could still hear, so I sang and talked to her until the hospice nurses told me she was gone."

Three years later, he married Arlene Silver, a make-up artist. The duo had met in 2006 at the SAG Awards, and at the time of their wedding, Van Dyke was 86 and Silver was 40.

"She's just delightful, a great cook and a woman of great patience," Van Dyke told Closer of Silver in 2020. "She's given me a third life, and I'm tickled to death with it."

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What Dick Van Dyke is up to now

Van Dyke, despite being 98, is in no way retired. In fact, earlier this year, he made history by becoming the oldest Daytime Emmy Award winner for his guest role on Days of Our Lives.

"I don't believe this. I feel like a spy from nighttime television," he said at the ceremony.

"I'm 98 years old. Can you believe it? This really tops off a lifetime of 80 years in the business. If I had known I would have lived this long I would've taken better care of myself."

Then, in September, he won another Emmy – this time it was a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special.

"I've been in the business 75 years. I can't believe that I'm still here and performing," Van Dyke said while answering press questions after his win.

He also reportedly joked: "I'm looking for work, if anybody has."

One week later, Van Dyke was reportedly set to present at the 76th Primetime Emmys, however, he didn't show up to the event. Neither he nor 52-year-old Silver, with whom he recently celebrated 12 years of marriage, commented on his absence.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Van Dyke's estimated net worth is $US50 million (approx. $74 million).

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Title: Inside legendary actor Dick Van Dyke's colourful personal life
Sourced From: celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/dick-van-dyke-inside-veteran-actor-dick-van-dykes-colourful-personal-life-explainer/8e9da704-37f7-4ca1-bd06-0411c7541bb8
Published Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2024 05:09:00 GMT