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Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925 in West Plains, Missouri), usually credited as
Dick Van Dyke, is a noted American television and movie actor. He is most famous for his starring roles on The Dick Van Dyke Show (with
Mary Tyler Moore) in the 1960s and Diagnosis Murder in the 1990s.
Van Dyke's first major role was on stage in Bye Bye Birdie in 1960, for which he won a Tony Award. He then starred in his own sitcom,
The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran for five seasons – in the lead role of Rob Petrie, Van Dyke won three Emmy Awards. He slowly transitioned out of television into movie acting in
Bye Bye, Birdie (1963), What a Way to Go! (1964) and, most notably,
Walt Disney's Mary Poppins (1964), in which he played Bert, a Cockney chimney sweep, and also played, in heavy disguise, the elderly owner of the bank. Van Dyke's attempt at a Cockney accent was widely ridiculed (especially in the UK), but the film also showed his versatility as a singer and dancer. Dick Van Dyke was a great admirer of Stan Laurel and even gave the eulogy at his funeral. He once met Laurel and told him he had copied a great deal from him. He said Laurel only laughed and said "I've noticed that".
After the mid-1960s, Van Dyke was in a number of relatively unsuccessful movies (though one, a children's film called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
, is still well-known, especially with the recent stage musical). In 1974, however Van Dyke surprised everyone by appearing in his first dramatic role, as an alcoholic businessman in The Morning After. Van Dyke received wide acclaim and an Emmy nomination. Regarded by many as the most realistic television film ever made dealing with alcoholism, it is sometimes shown at treatment centers. The final scene in particular is regarded by many as chilling and unforgettable. It was at this time that Van Dyke admitted he had recently overcome a real-life drinking problem.
His career seemed essentially over by 1990 when Van Dyke, whose usual role had been the amiable hero, took a villainous turn in Dick Tracy. He received positive reviews that led him to star in a series of TV movies on CBS that became the foundation for his popular television drama,
Diagnosis: Murder, which ran from 1993 to 2001.
One of Van Dyke's modern passions is producing 3D computer graphics. He created many of the 3D rendered effects shown in
Diagnosis: Murder himself, and continues to work with LightWave 3D.
Dick Van Dyke is the brother of actor Jerry Van Dyke. Dick's son
Barry Van Dyke and grandson Carry Van Dyke are also actors: both Barry and Carry acted with Dick on
Diagnosis Murder.
Van Dyke received a Grammy Award for his performance on the soundtrack to
Mary Poppins.
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LiteratureEarle Hagen, Andy Griffith Show, Mod Squad, I Spy composer (RIP)
Earle H. Hagen, who not only composed the theme from the Andy Griffith Show but also whistled the familiar melody, died yesterday. He was 88 years old. From the Associated Press (photo from EarleHagen.net): During his long musical career, Hagen performed with the top bands of the swing era, composed for movies and television, and wrote one of the first textbooks on movie composing. He and Dick Rogers were nominated for an Academy Award for best music scoring for the 1960 Marilyn Monroe movie "Let's Make Love." For television, he composed original music for more than 3,000 episodes, pilots and TV movies, including theme songs for "That Girl," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." Link to AP article, Link to EarleHagen.net...
Published: Wed, 28 May 2008 04:45:48 GMT - Source: Boingboing.Net - Read the article
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