alt Hacker NewsComputer animator and Amiga fanatic Dick van Dyke turns 100
Here's a video from 2004 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1J9kfDCAmU
It's his 100th birthday today.
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There are few (maybe no) moments of Dick Van Dyke that aren’t a joy to watch. I grew up on reruns of the Dick Van Dyke Show and discovered Andy Kaufman thanks to Van Dyke’s short-lived variety show, Van Dyke and Company. Watching his dance moves (it’s a little amazing to realize how many dance numbers the Dick Van Dyke Show featured) is like watching an animated character dance, he was able to move his body in ways that suggest he has no bones. As a kid, I wanted to be Dick Van Dyke when I grew up and as an adult, I want to be Dick Van Dyke when I’m old.
Seemingly a universally liked man. So much so, that dolphins rescued him when he fell asleep on his surfboard aged 84.
The whole "The Dick Van Dyke Show" is available for free on YouTube, I highly recommend it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-HsXBPWH3Y&list=PLtbMv4lXX2...
THE Dick van Dyke, from Mary Poppins, Diagnosis: Murder, ans so many more?! I always thought it was just a coincidental same name as I never saw videos about this. Oh my! This guy is amazing
I just saw a tweet saying his birth was closer to the death of Thomas Jefferson (1826) than it is to today. Wow.
A few months ago I found The Dick Van Dyke Show free to watch on Youtube. I had seen a number of the episodes in passing over the years, but never really watched it. It's really quite a good show. Highly recommended, even if YouTube's viewing experience for TV series is sub-par.
I had no idea he's an animator, that's so cool! In that video he says "Lightwave is so deep, I won't live long enough to see everything that's in it". I'm glad he's proven wrong there!
Bonus: here are two videos where he spoke at SIGGRAPH 2004
Part 1 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1J9kfDCAmU>
Part 2 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0IGjoo5gRg>
\m/ happy birthday Mr Van Dyke!
source: <https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/obe3v6/95_year_old_d...>
A nice tribute at https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/13/dick-van-dyke-c...
My clearest recollection (don't know the episode) is when he attends an event, probably in place of Alan Brady, that turns out to be a big fund-raiser. The Hostess addresses him as Mister Petrov. When asked for a donation, he is stupefied, and can only say "I have this blank check" ... no spoiler ...
The comedy show within a comedy show is a cool dramatic and operatic trick.
Magnificent delivery.
Wow I had no idea, what a cool guy! Loved Mary Poppins as a kid, his British accent though… xD
Here's the mentioned segment from "Diagnosis: Murder": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WeZKOPcaeA
I've heard of him but have never seen any of his content, what should I watch?
He sang probably the greatest song in musical film — Hushabye Mountain in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfdRr7MWax4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeCBVerpYj8
If you have never seen this film, I don't care how old you are, you should watch it. It is overshadowed by Mary Poppins but it is a work of art — a funny, charming, astonishing visual feast of a film and he is magnificent in it. His performance as the jack-in-a-box alone is worth an Oscar:
the dick van dyke show is an absolute masterpiece
And then Commodore made the A3000 not high enough to take the Video Toaster. How to shoot yourself in the foot...
Such a legend! I bet he still has his Amiga somewhere in his Hollywood hills mansion.
Amazing that he was 80 in that clip
Such a likeable person.
“How an elephant got in my pajamas I’ll never know.”
Props to ggm for finding a tech angle.
Respectable people
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I am getting a paywall so I will skip this article.
Here’s a great quote by him:
> In my 30’s, I exercised to look good. In my 50’s, to stay fit. In my 70’s, to stay ambulatory. In my 80’s, to avoid assisted living. Now in my 90’s, I’m just doing it out of pure defiance