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(DIR) Computer animator and Amiga fanatic Dick van Dyke turns 100
k310 wrote 20 hours 59 min ago:
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.
Bengalilol wrote 21 hours 9 min ago:
Bonus: here are two videos where he spoke at SIGGRAPH 2004
Part 1
< [1] >
Part 2
< [2] >
\m/ happy birthday Mr Van Dyke!
source:
< [3] >
(HTM) [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1J9kfDCAmU
(HTM) [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0IGjoo5gRg
(HTM) [3]: https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/obe3v6/95_year_old_dic...
systemtest wrote 21 hours 22 min ago:
I am getting a paywall so I will skip this article.
exasperaited wrote 21 hours 31 min ago:
He sang probably the greatest song in musical film â Hushabye
Mountain in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: [1] [2] 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 â 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:
(HTM) [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfdRr7MWax4
(HTM) [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeCBVerpYj8
(HTM) [3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_l2ii_25tc
justin66 wrote 20 hours 50 min ago:
> If you have never seen this film, I don't care how old you are, you
should watch it.
Iâm not sure about the all ages part. We watched it in first or
second grade and I can still remember wondering how a movie with a
flying car could be so boring.
satvikpendem wrote 21 hours 33 min ago:
I've heard of him but have never seen any of his content, what should I
watch?
riffraff wrote 21 hours 4 min ago:
it's quite possible you may unknowingly have seen him in Mary
Poppins, where he plays _two_ roles, and I was mind blown when I
noticed the second after 30 years or so.
ks2048 wrote 22 hours 2 min ago:
I just saw a tweet saying his birth was closer to the death of Thomas
Jefferson (1826) than it is to today. Wow.
sethammons wrote 21 hours 32 min ago:
The grandson of the 10th US president died this year. The US is
barely three generations old. That guy could say his grandfather
shook hands with Thomas Jefferson.
lifeisstillgood wrote 21 hours 25 min ago:
I think it was Bertram Russell who said he was raised by his
grandfather, who knew Napoleon.
The modern world is a lot more crammed together than we think it is
exasperaited wrote 21 hours 3 min ago:
If you have never played the backwards-lifetime game, you should.
Take your current age and work backwards that same number of
days, months and years before your birth. Every year something
else remarkable is added.
At my current backwards age, World War II is the best part of two
decades away; the UK is still recovering from World War I. Rocket
88, the first rock and roll song, won't be written for nearly
another three decades. Women still can't vote in the UK, the Wall
Street Crash is several years away.
When my father (who knew one of the most important men in medical
history in his younger days and who was working in medicine not
long after the NHS was founded) died, his backwards age reached
back before the germ theory of modern medicine.
Another interesting game is to use your "oocyte age" â about 32
weeks before your mother was born is roughly when the oocyte
developed that led to your egg. In my case this too is before
World War II started.
jihadjihad wrote 21 hours 39 min ago:
Itâs a fun fact that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on
the same day, July 4 1826, 50 years to the day after the adoption of
the Declaration of Independence.
dhosek wrote 22 hours 18 min ago:
There are few (maybe no) moments of Dick Van Dyke that arenât a joy
to watch. I grew up on reruns of the Dick Van Dyke Show and discovered
Andy Kaufman thanks to Van Dykeâs short-lived variety show, Van Dyke
and Company. Watching his dance moves (itâs 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
Iâm old.
heresie-dabord wrote 21 hours 41 min ago:
> a joy to watch
The man is a brilliant comedian. He knew some of the greats; he is
one of them.
The Comic (1969):
(HTM) [1]: https://youtu.be/c8NGqKaPCog
haritha-j wrote 22 hours 18 min ago:
the dick van dyke show is an absolute masterpiece
dobladov wrote 22 hours 20 min ago:
The whole "The Dick Van Dyke Show" is available for free on YouTube, I
highly recommend it.
(HTM) [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-HsXBPWH3Y&list=PLtbMv4lXX2mv...
dhosek wrote 22 hours 16 min ago:
Good starting points would be the Christmas Special (Alan Brady
Presents), âIt May Look Like a Walnutâ and âThatâs My Boyâ
(just off the top of my head). There are two episodes where we got to
see Van Dykeâs Stan Laurel impersonation which was absolutely
amazing. Given how much he drank and smoked back in the 60s and 70s
itâs a miracle heâs still on earth, but he is definitely a
treasure.
neilv wrote 22 hours 26 min ago:
(HTM) [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSeaHfkd3M8
thrill wrote 1 day ago:
âHow an elephant got in my pajamas Iâll never know.â
linsomniac wrote 1 day ago:
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.
mrandish wrote 23 hours 39 min ago:
Some of those older comedy shows had really good writing. The Bob
Newhart shows were also excellent.
tronicjester wrote 23 hours 6 min ago:
Bob Newhart was Mr. Rogers for adults. Good show!
qoez wrote 1 day ago:
Amazing that he was 80 in that clip
ZHUDAN509 wrote 1 day ago:
Respectable people
cafard wrote 1 day ago:
Props to ggm for finding a tech angle.
fortran77 wrote 1 day ago:
Family Guy: [1] And
(HTM) [1]: https://youtu.be/k_AMQOTPqL8?si=j0fjQfmS-GcEP8Hj
(HTM) [2]: https://youtu.be/OsSJnV7Ik9o?si=7aXnOKN8Jc28h-Mo
Instantix wrote 1 day ago:
And then Commodore made the A3000 not high enough to take the Video
Toaster. How to shoot yourself in the foot...
tzs wrote 1 day ago:
Hereâs a great quote by him:
> In my 30âs, I exercised to look good. In my 50âs, to stay fit. In
my 70âs, to stay ambulatory. In my 80âs, to avoid assisted living.
Now in my 90âs, Iâm just doing it out of pure defiance
heresie-dabord wrote 6 hours 37 min ago:
The filming of the Jolly Holidays sequence is worth watching on its
own as an example of his physical comedy:
(HTM) [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgBvbdZU7yo
SoftTalker wrote 1 day ago:
He was also an alcoholic for many years. Must be made of pretty good
stuff to survive this long.
moron4hire wrote 1 day ago:
Of all of my grandparents and great grandparents, they all lived
really hard lives eating high fat diets, drinking and smoking, and
lived into their 80s. Genetics is really the biggest determining
factor outside of going completely off the rails with binge eating
and drug use.
Now, that's not to say that healthy living is pointless. Their
quality of life from late 60s on was not great: alcoholism,
poverty, multiple heart attacks, emphasima, a stroke here and
there, from which they eventually, sort of, not really recovered.
They were deeply unhappy people who never really seemed to have
time or care for their families. I definitely don't want to live
like that. So treat yourself right, but not because you're trying
to reach a certain age.
pengaru wrote 21 hours 12 min ago:
> they all lived really hard lives eating high fat diets
ICYMI the low fat diet craze was built on lies and corruption,
fat isn't bad for you. Sugar is.
moron4hire wrote 17 hours 33 min ago:
I don't think it's that simple.
robotresearcher wrote 23 hours 3 min ago:
Beware survivor bias.
In a population of equally vulnerable genetics and stochastic
outcomes, there will be families that all live long.
We are wired to attribute that to something.
mrandish wrote 23 hours 42 min ago:
> Genetics is really the biggest determining factor outside of
going completely off the rails with binge eating and drug use.
So true. I'm fortunate that both my parents have long-life family
histories. Both families were old-fashioned Southern Baptists who
didn't drink, smoke, dance or, apparently, believe in having fun
of any kind :-). But that just kept them from messing up their
good genetic luck. I'm an old-fashioned atheist but have chosen
to never drink, smoke or do drugs just because I never saw a
compelling reason to. Now I'm pushing 60 and have so far had zero
serious health issues. Hoping to keep a good thing going.
Imustaskforhelp wrote 21 hours 39 min ago:
> I'm an old-fashioned atheist but have chosen to never drink,
smoke or do drugs just because I never saw a compelling reason
to
I am 17 and I am the same here (atheist) and similar and yeah I
see no reason to do these things either and I actively see the
negative harmful effects it can have so I am not gonna do these
things at all ever in my life too.
Have a nice day :)
moron4hire wrote 17 hours 31 min ago:
There's not no reason to eat fatty foods (they're delicious)
or do drugs (they're a lot of fun). Life is for living, too.
But everything in moderation.
Imustaskforhelp wrote 8 hours 34 min ago:
I understand the statement behind your comment and here are
the reasons I would like to present
> they're delicious.
I was already raised in a vegan household because of my
parents religion, I am not completely an atheist but maybe
agnostic and I can recommend books like sapiens to know
more about the history of religion too but that's another
tangent.
To me eating fatty foods isnt that big of a deal because
the vegan food is surprisingly delicious too and is very
diverse.
I also recommend watching [1] (earthling's documentary)
simply because I just feel like delicious doesnt deserve
the animals being killed in pain, It just doesn't make
sense when you realize that vegan food is really delicious
too.
> drugs (they're a lot of fun)
Nope, There is no everything in moderation regarding this
because I just feel like these can trigger parts of my
brain designed for stimulus and get addicted.
No drug addicts wants to become an addict, they think they
will do in moderation and also I doubt its fun, I have
heard it / read it as just chasing the high and the high
creates the lows too, they're fun in short term but they
fuck you up after they get over and then you cahse them
again and again like a rat/rabbit...
> Life is for living, too
Listen sir, I understand that you feel like I am not living
or living a monotonous life but the drugs and fatty foods
are vices in my opinion and honestly I live a fun life
without these things too!
If you wish to ask me, I feel like the 24x7 hustle culture
or the work culture and similars might be the thing which
actively kills the living part, not the fact that they are
vegan or that they do not drugs, I just do not understand
this take.
Personally I wish to be a good father. I just feel like
drugs no matter how you might say moderation, just wouldn't
work with that end goal. Whats even the point of doing
drugs? Literally none long term. and I just feel like its
really harmful which it is.
Personally if you ask me, I am having fun and maybe the
only reasons I or many others do not have fun is because of
this constant social media (which I sort of left) and also
the fact that we have to study for school to get college ->
to then get job -> to then get promotions -> (???)
Its just that I am preparing for college and stressing a
lot because of an exam but this is me being completely
honest, that when I wasnt stressing about these exams, life
was genuinely good and still is even when I stress a little
haha...
I understand where you are coming from but I doubt that
these can be healthy long term from what I understand in my
opinion mentally. I feel like a lot of it is how our
parents raise us and how we interpret it too and there can
be differing view points but I do believe that drugs cause
a lot of harm. I can understand about the vegan part
because of culture/tradition but please do not do drugs as
I feel like it can be easy to slip up from what you say
moderation and I just feel like there are actively reasons
to not do it.
TLDR: Do not do drugs. (I feel like this is non negotiable
for me and I hope you understand that I am not changing
this fact because of "fun" when its not fun at all imo, its
shit from what I've heard and every addict starts out in
moderation until addiction and then they beg that they
shouldnt have started in the first place so I am gonna do
that.)
I love who I am and the things I stand for and how I came
upon them logically to try to build a better life for
myself and others around me too and so I hope that you do
not try to debate about drugs to a 17 year old whose saying
that he wont do drugs ever in his life :)
And yeah, have a nice day man!
(HTM) [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gqwpfEcBjI&t=25s
gbraad wrote 1 day ago:
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
ChrisMarshallNY wrote 1 day ago:
Very much so. Really decent chap, too.
Terrible cockney accent, though...
wingmanjd wrote 1 day ago:
No one mentioned it to him during production, so he didn't know.
austinjp wrote 1 day ago:
Seemingly a universally liked man. So much so, that dolphins rescued
him when he fell asleep on his surfboard aged 84.
(HTM) [1]: https://archive.is/pZTz3
thefaux wrote 1 day ago:
The intelligence and benevolence of many marine mammals is vastly
under appreciated.
spankibalt wrote 1 day ago:
Reportedly, dolphins are notorious rapists. So maybe there's more
to this story...
PolygonSheep wrote 19 hours 13 min ago:
They're certainly not backwards about coming forward with their
tummy bananas...
yetihehe wrote 1 day ago:
Maybe intelligent species have a lot of variance? There are good
and bad dolphins, like there are good and bad people.
agumonkey wrote 1 day ago:
When nature is on your side you now you have it good
tclancy wrote 1 day ago:
A nice tribute at
(HTM) [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/13/dick-van-dyke-cen...
andrewstuart wrote 1 day ago:
Such a likeable person.
Coeur wrote 1 day ago:
Here's the mentioned segment from "Diagnosis: Murder":
(HTM) [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WeZKOPcaeA
stavros wrote 1 day ago:
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!
Keyframe wrote 1 day ago:
He even outlived Ligtwave!
ChrisMarshallNY wrote 1 day ago:
Many A-listers are polymaths. For example, Phil Hartman, used to be
Phil Hartmann (extra "n"), and designed some of the most iconic album
covers of the 1970s, and Steve Martin is one of the best banjo
players out there. It used to be part of his standup bit.
Dick Van Dyke came from the tail end of Vaudeville, where performers
had to have a whole variety of skills.
Remember: Every one of these folks that hits the limelight, beat out
thousands of others.
We think our vocation is competitive? Showbiz says "Hold my beer."
trehalose wrote 1 day ago:
Hedy Lamarr was a prolific inventor. Among other things, she
developed a frequency-hopping spread spectrum radio transmission
technique for torpedo guidance and donated the patent to the US
Navy during WW2.
ChrisMarshallNY wrote 23 hours 58 min ago:
That's "Headley!" (Blazing Saddles reference).
And of course, there's Sir Doctor Brian May.
Many of the early electronic musicians were basically engineers
(you had to be, to use some of those old synthesizers).
ndstephens wrote 1 day ago:
Just looked it up and saw he did an album cover for Steely Dan. It
reminded me that Chevy Chase was an early drummer for Steely Dan
(well, before they became "Steely Dan")
pstuart wrote 23 hours 3 min ago:
The album: Aja -- a masterpiece.
_whiteCaps_ wrote 21 hours 9 min ago:
Not according to Wikipedia: [1] but he did do a bunch for
America:
(HTM) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aja_(album)#Title_and_pa...
(HTM) [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Hartman#Discography
pstuart wrote 18 hours 35 min ago:
Thanks for the correction -- I was hasty with my search and
trusted the link that proclaimed that he did it.
ChrisMarshallNY wrote 15 hours 2 min ago:
Might not be wrong. The Wikipedia article states that it is
incomplete.
dboreham wrote 1 day ago:
For completeness: Billy Connolly was also a banjo player.
martinesq wrote 1 day ago:
> Steve Martin is one of the best banjo players out there
And heâs great with a lasso!
I love his albums with Edie Brickell, heâs good with Steep Canyon
Rangers, and more recently have heard him shine with Alison Brown
(banjo), Sierra Hull (mandolin), and others in his latest tour.
If youâre looking for the top banjo players technically, you
might check out Béla Fleck, Jens Kruger, Noam Pikelny, Tony
Trischka, Bill Keith, Don Reno, and Earl Scruggs. Iâve personally
heard superhuman performances by Jens Kruger in-person and I grew
up on Scruggs.
kstrauser wrote 1 day ago:
I have a fond memory of my dad taking me to see Roy Clark when I
was a little guy.
kristopolous wrote 1 day ago:
I know his son Barry. He said his first memory he has was his Dad
doing real time drawings for people telling stories. He was behind
the story teller on stage on giant pads of paper as a comedy bit at
night clubs.
He also remembers having giant bags of toys dumped on the floor of
the hotel rooms.
gsf_emergency_6 wrote 1 day ago:
(HTM) [1]: https://www.sciencealert.com/dick-van-dyke-credits-his-longevi...
bestouff wrote 1 day ago:
> The beloved actor credits his remarkable longevity to his positive
outlook and never getting angry.
Tade0 wrote 1 day ago:
Makes sense. My grandpa is one year his junior and you would never
see him react too strongly to anything, even though grandma (also
still alive) always had an, ahem, fiery personality.
Also he refuses to sit and moves around all the time, venturing
outside every day from their apartment four floors above ground
without a lift.
Interestingly his own father didn't make it to his 60s, so there's
certainly a lifestyle component to this.
wuhhh wrote 1 day ago:
Wow I had no idea, what a cool guy! Loved Mary Poppins as a kid, his
British accent though⦠xD
sgt wrote 1 day ago:
Such a legend! I bet he still has his Amiga somewhere in his Hollywood
hills mansion.
timbit42 wrote 1 day ago:
He sold his Amiga not too many years ago. It may have been on eBay.
ggm wrote 1 day ago:
For Mary Poppins, Disney used the sodium vapour process to get
monochromatic light into a narrow channel for matte from a light
splitting prism. [1] It's charming. I'm sure digital post offers many
advantages. Van Dyke might be one of a few who has done both.
(HTM) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_vapor_process
reactordev wrote 1 day ago:
Kind of a tangent comment
yvdriess wrote 20 hours 25 min ago:
He was an animator and it's the interesting kind of factoids we
read these comment sections for. We'll allow it.
reactordev wrote 19 hours 22 min ago:
You missed the pun
metadope wrote 1 day ago:
Tangents are a sine of the times.
reactordev wrote 19 hours 21 min ago:
cos of this economy?
simon_void wrote 1 day ago:
a Corridor Crew YouTube video describing/recreating that sodium
vapour process:
(HTM) [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQuIVsNzqDk
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