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Dick Van Dyke has had a lengthy Hollywood career, and CBS have announced they will be airing a special on the Marry Poppins star just before Christmas.
Titled Dick Van Dyke 98 Years Of Magic, the show will look back at the screen legend’s storied career and will air a week after Dick celebrates his 98th birthday, according to Deadline.
CBS has a special connection to Dick, having aired his beloved sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s.
Celebrating the actor, The Dick Van Dyke Show’s old set will be revived for the episode as well as song, dance, and special guests.
Dick said in a statement over the happy news: “I started with CBS under contract in 1955 with the CBS morning show, then The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis Murder.
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“I’ve been with the CBS family for almost 70 years, and I couldn’t be prouder.
“I’m incredibly honored that CBS will be throwing a 98th birthday special for me. Can’t wait to be part of the show!”
Old footage will also be played in the special, spanning some of the highlights of his wide-ranging career on stage, film, and television.
Dick began his performing career during World War II, as he dropped out of school and joined the US Army Air Corps and eventually landed military work as a radio announcer and an entertainer for the troops.
In the 1950s he worked as a nightclub performer before moving on to TV, eventually starting his career with CBS in 1955.
It was on Broadway, however, that he first became a major name as the leading man of the smash hit 1960 stage musical Bye Bye Birdie.
His performance onstage attracted Carl Reiner, who brought him to Hollywood, where The Dick Van Dyke Show began.
The Dick Van Dyke Show then ran from 1961 to 1966.
It was then his Hollywood career soared when he landed movie musicals like Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and a film of Bye Bye Birdie.
In the 1970s he pursued more dramatic roles, playing alcoholics in The Comic and The Morning After and then confessing he had gone on the wagon in real life.
He became a regular on The Carol Burnett Show and hopped around in guest roles on the top TV shows of the 1970s and 1980s, from Colombo to The Golden Girls.
In recent years he has been showered with awards for lifetime achievement, including a Kennedy Center Honor and a designation as a Disney Legend.
But he still isn’t slowing down at 97, having made appearances on The Masked Singer and Days Of Our Lives this year.
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Source: NewsFinale
