Dick Van Dyke Biography

Actor

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Dick Van Dyke is best known for his successful series The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66) and Diagnosis Murder (1993-2001). A song-and-dance man who got his start in radio, Van Dyke was a hit in both the Broadway and Hollywood versions of the musical Bye Bye Birdie (1960 and 1963), and co-starred in the Walt Disney film Mary Poppins (1964). For The Dick Van Dyke Show, Van Dyke won three consecutive Emmys and secured his place in the history of American television (Mary Tyler Moore played his wife). Known mostly for light comedy in films and on TV, Van Dyke has also proven himself a capable dramatic actor in The Comic (1969, later known as Billy Bright) and The Morning After (1974). His other films include Fitzwilly (1967), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968, based on the book by Ian Fleming), Dick Tracy (1990) and Night at the Museum (2006, starring Ben Stiller).

Extra credit: The Dick Van Dyke Show was set in New Rochelle, New York; Van Dyke and Moore's characters were Rob and Laura Petrie... Early in the 1980s he began a long romantic relationship with Michelle Triola Marvin, previously known for her unsuccessful 1970s palimony suit against actor Lee Marvin.