Latest Dick Van Dyke Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I'm not quite as much of a curmudgeon being old. I'm not cantankerous. But otherwise, I'm about the same.

  Dick Van Dyke

• Longevity in my family's been pretty good. And my grandparents were pretty spry at their age, so I figured I'd probably stay skinny and fairly agile. I used to do old men all the time in sketches. And there used to be an organization called the Gray Panthers. And they would send me, oh, terrible letters about making fun of old people. And I would just always say, "I'm playing the old person I intend to become!"

  Dick Van Dyke

  Fun, Men, People

• Otherwise, everything got better and better, just one surprise after another. And that's why I wrote the book about a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and just luck.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Book, Luck, Surprise

• I'm gonna keep singing and dancing as long as I can.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Long, Dancing, Singing

• I think the biggest mistake - I was always a big fan of Cary Grant, and he asked me to do a movie with him, playing the second lead, and I didn't do it. And to this day, I can't remember why. But I could've said I worked with Cary Grant, but I turned him down. That was probably the biggest mistake I ever made.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Mistake, Thinking, Remember

• Only funny line I've had was my first day on the set of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. They were making me up, and I saw the director call the makeup man over, and he says "What are we going to do about the hooter?" And the makeup guy said, "I'm not a plastic surgeon." So I started that show with a big nose, and quite conscious of it.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Makeup, Men, Guy

• I would love to see Carl Reiner working in the arena today. He did some marvelous things on our show in the early '60s when it was a little edgy. We did shows about blacks, a couple, three of those. Some thought-provoking stuff.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Couple, Today

• Today, with the subject matter that's around politically, and internationally and everything, I think Carl Reiner would have a ball. I think the format should stay the same. I'd sure love to see him dealing with it today.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Thinking, Today, Dealing With It

• I wouldn't mind taking a chance at Real Time, I've always thought if I could pick my interviewer, it'd be Charlie Rose, who I think is the best.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Real, Thinking, Rose

• I think both of those: the subject matter, pop culture... the talent, I don't think... there's no Jim Belushi in Saturday Night Live, for me. And probably, you know, possibly the material. They've done everything over the years.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Night, Thinking, Culture

• I think there's kind of a wave of nostalgia going on right at the moment. You know, people recall an earlier time, which they see as a better time. And I think we just kind of evoke good thoughts when they look at us. That's the feeling I get.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Thinking, People, Feelings

• 10 years ago, I would've host Saturday Night Live. But to me, the show has declined. For some reason, humor isn't what it was. It just, to me, it's not as funny as it was, not as sharply satirical.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Night, Host, Reason

• I did a guest shot on a comedy series where they did 20 to 30 takes of everything. It's just gone by then. The joke is over. It's not funny anymore, and then of course, the editor's the one that has to figure out the timing. I think a lot depends on that.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Thinking, Comedy, Timing

• I found doing that kind of comedy without an audience is just... for me, it's almost impossible. You need the audience to do their half of the work.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Comedy, Impossible, Kind

• We used to get 27, 28 minutes to do a story in, and now they're lucky if they get 18 or 20 minutes. So I don't think they can really do a beginning, a middle, and an end anymore. There's an awful lot of one-line jokes; almost every line is a punchline. It's not the same, but there's still good comedy around.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Thinking, Lucky, Comedy

• My work is just a hobby. No, I wouldn't want to do it professionally. It's too hard. Deadlines are no fun. But I can sit and tweak all night and not worry about time.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Fun, Night, Worry

• A lot of the guilt didn't help my drinking at that point. I never expected a divorce to happen in my life particularly, but it just slowly happened. My wife was proud of me, but she hated the business, and for good reason. The spouses get moved, shoved aside, and ignored, and it's just, it's terrible.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Drinking, Divorce, Wife

• I decided, when I started having kids, that I'd try not to do anything that I wouldn't be proud for them to see. I've kind of stuck with that, and I don't regret that at all, although I've lost money and passed up a lot of projects because of it. But I feel good about that.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Regret, Kids, Feel Good

• I went public with the alcoholism, very early on... the early '70s. Mercedes McCambridge, the actress, I think was the first recognizable person that went before Congress and talked about it, and I thought that was a good idea, to take some of the stigma away from it and say "Normal, average people can fall prey to it." So it's been public for me. I did a movie about an alcoholic. And today, you're nobody unless you've been to rehab. It seems like everybody has some kind of an addiction.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Fall, Thinking, People

• Carl Reiner particularly as a writer, a terrific writer. He's just turning out things.

  Dick Van Dyke

• We spent a lot of time together and had a great time with Mary Tyler Moore. And just working with her was like improv.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Together, Had A Great Time, Time Together

• I've met presidents, but I've never performed for one. I said it was the first time in 50 years I actually had butterflies. You know, the Obamas were sitting out there, the Supreme Court, Maya Angelou, and Desmond Tutu for God's sake, all in the front row.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Butterfly, President, First Time

• A producer came to me about doing a memoir, and at first I thought, "Well, it's a little bland." But then I realized that almost everything that's happened to me was the result of being in the right place at the right time. And I thought "Well, luck has a lot to do with it," so I wrote it from that perspective.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Perspective, Luck, Producers

• If you spend your life thinking, "I wonder if today is when it ends," you're going to miss out on everything wonderful.

  Dick Van Dyke

  Thinking, Missing, Today

  "90-year-old Disney Legend’s Secret To Marrying A (Much) Younger Woman". Interview with Eric Spitznagel, www.menshealth.com.sg. October 3, 2016.

• You're going to die. That's going to happen. What matters is what you do with your time before you get flushed out.

  Dick Van Dyke

  What Matters, Matter, Happens

  "Dick Van Dyke: Icon". Interview with Eric Spitznagel, www.ericspitznagel.com. September 14, 2016.