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Name: Dick Van Dyke
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Date of Birth:
December 13, 1925
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Place of Birth:
West Plains, MO, USA
Mini-bio:
Richard Wayne Van Dyke is an American television and movie actor. He is best known for his starring roles in Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 1960s and Diagnosi...( read more)s: Murder as Dr. Mark Sloan in the 1990s. Van Dyke began his film career by reprising his stage role in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie in 1963. Although Van Dyke was unhappy with the adaptation because the focus was shifted to Ann-Margret's character, the film was a major success. He followed that up with Walt Disney's Mary Poppins in 1964, in which he played Bert, a Cockney chimney sweep, and also, in heavy disguise, the elderly owner of the bank. His attempt at a Cockney accent (and his tendency to lapse in and out of it) was widely ridiculed (especially in the UK). But the film was very popular and innovative and also showed his versatility as a singer and dancer. One of his showcase songs, Chim Chim Cher-ee, won the Oscar for the Sherman Brothers, the film's songwriting team.Van Dyke made several more comedy movies throughout the 1960s including What a Way to Go!, Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN, Fitzwilly, The Art of Love, Never a Dull Moment, and Divorce American Style. Although most of his movies from this era were relatively unsuccessful, the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a worldwide success and is still fondly remembered today. In later years, Van Dyke would complain that he had "never made a good movie".