Dick Van Dyke “probably neglected” his children when they were young because he was working so hard to get his big break and lift them out of poverty.
Dick Van Dyke “probably neglected” his children when they were young.
The 99-year-old actor – who has Christian, 75, Barry, 74, Stacy, 70, and Carrie, 64, with late ex-wife Margie Willett – has recalled how hard he worked to lift his young family out of poverty before finding fame and admitted it wasn’t easy to spend time with his kids as a result.
He told People magazine: “In the beginning I was [raising] in a family with no money, so the whole thing was getting some money together and getting a home.
“I bought a home on the GI Bill, finally, but I think the toughest was I did game shows. I played nightclubs. I did about everything. At one point, I was doing a disc jockey show at 5 in the morning, and then at night I was working with a partner in nightclubs.
“I was getting like three or four hours sleep in between, but that’s the only thing I can remember, is working so hard to get going, to get a foothold. After that I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
Of his children, he added: “They probably got neglected at some point, because I was really working hard to get out of poverty, so to speak, but I haven’t had any complaints from anybody.”
Although he turns 100 in December, the Mary Poppins actor still enjoys working and never takes his career for granted.
He said: “I think of how rare it is that a person gets to do for a living, what they love to do. Most people have to go sit in an office. I never forgot that I look forward to getting up every morning and going to work, because it’s what I would’ve done for nothing. “
Dick also credits his 54-year-old wife Arlene Silver, who he married in 2012, for helping him to keep feeling young.
He said: “She’s responsible for keeping me in the moment.
“She kept me happy every day of my life, every day. She’s a joy. She can get me singing or dancing and she carries so much responsibility … I’m just lucky.”
The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star hopes the impact his work has had on the lives of children in particular is what he will be remembered by when he is gone.
He said: “What I left in the way of children’s entertainment and children’s music — that’s my legacy.
“I don’t think remembering me is that important. But it’s the music, the music we leave behind. For as long as children are proudly belting out their new word, ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,’ or singing and skipping along to ‘Chim Chim Cher-ee,’ the most important part of me will always be alive.”
Dick Van Dyke ‘probably neglected’ kids in bid to find success
