“It’d be funny if I didn’t make it,” Dick Van Dyke chuckled with a smile, two months from being 100 years old. The joke half way between cheeky and morbid hit the mark just as one would expect from the fellow who’s made people laugh for 75 years. While attending the Vandy High Tea in Malibu, California, the “Mary Poppins” legend was in top spirits, raising money for the Van Dyke Endowment of the Arts and the upcoming Dick Van Dyke Museum, with his wife, Arlene Silver. When asked how he manages to look so young, he didn’t skip a beat: “Right here beside me,” he said, gesturing towards Arlene.
That mix of optimism, love, and humor is at the core of his new book, 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life, coming out on November 18. The memoir-style book delivers life lessons, personal anecdotes, and insights from his life, ranging from shoveling coal in pre–World War II Illinois to dancing on the stages of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” Some chapters have a more serious tone, like “You Will Not Be Alone,” describing the death of his first grandchild, and “Read While You Can,” which announces advanced dry macular degeneration has closed his life as a reader. But even in those times, there is buoyancy in his voice.
Exercise has been a steady companion in his later years. The gym is Van Dyke’s “secret weapon,” and Arlene ensures he visits it three times a week. His training is not just symbolic Rick Springfield, 76, recently got viral fame after catching Van Dyke “working out on every machine” and then busting out a dance step before departing. “I thought I was doing well at 76, but Dick… Amazing!” Springfield wrote. This dedication to exercise is in line with what gerontology experts have long said: staying active keeps muscles loose, joints fluid, and the mind agile. As Van Dyke described, Most people at 98 years old don’t really feel like working out, and they seize up… I still move pretty well, and I think that must be the secret.
His path has not been easy. In the 1970s, he struggled with alcoholism, admitting himself for three weeks to a hospital and eventually speaking candidly about the disease to help eliminate its stigma. Smoking cessation was even more difficult 15 years later, he still chews nicotine gum. He’s also made his way through inexplicable medical problems, such as the thudding headaches he once linked to titanium dental implants. And back in the spring, he canceled public appearances because of “bad days” that accompany being 99-and-a-half.
But his determination is driven by happiness in what he does. “It’s such a blessing to find a way of making a living that you love, that you’d do for nothing,” he said to CBS News. He never spent time on activities he didn’t like, and that shows in his long-running career whether taking home his sixth Emmy at 98 or belting out the tune from “Mary Poppins” to a throng of thrilled partygoers at the High Tea party.
Science supports a lot of what Van Dyke practices. Studies indicate that humor and optimism can reduce stress chemicals, enhance cardiovascular health, and even boost the immune system. Social contact such as the relationship he shares with Arlene has been tied to increased lifespan and improved mental well-being. And continuing to keep one’s mind active, whether through creative endeavors or public performances, maintains cognitive function deep into old age. Ultimately, Van Dyke’s life is evidence that longevity is not merely a matter of how many years you live it’s a matter of how well you live them. His recipe for success appears easy: keep on moving, keep on laughing, keep on loving, and never cease doing what makes you happy. As he famously put it, “I got to do what I do: play and act silly.” And at almost 100, he continues to do just that.
