Dick Van Dyke to make soap opera debut at 97 on Days Of Our Lives

Dick Van Dyke will make his soap opera debut on Days Of Our Lives.

The 97-year-old is set to appear as a guest star on a forthcoming episode of the long-running series.

Van Dyke told Access Hollywood that the role came about after he met Days Of Our Lives star Drake Hogestyn at the gym and asked him for a part on the show.

“I used to kid him,  ‘Don’t you have any parts for old people? Come on, give me one.’ And he took me seriously and got me a part!” he told the outlet in a video interview.

The episode – which will air in autumn – Van Dyke will play a man with amnesia, appearing in a scene with cast members Hogestyn and Deidre Hall.

During the Access Hollywood segment, Carol Burnett offered Van Dyke some advice. Burnett previously had a recurring role on All My Children in the Eighties.

“Make sure you know all your lines because they don’t do retakes,” she advised him.

Van Dyke said that he had watched an episode of Days of Our Lives as “homework” to prepare for his role.

“Some of the people have been doing it for 20 years,” the Tony and Emmy winner said.

“That’s all the homework I can do, watch one and see how they do it. The other thing, you have to hold, ‘Duh duh,’ there’s the sting of music and we’ve said something exciting.”

In February, the legendary Hollywood actor stunned The Masked Singer audiences when he was unmasked in the show’s “greatest reveal ever”.

He later said that his 51-year-old wife Arlene Silver is how he stays youthful.

“Having a beautiful young wife half my age to take care of me – that works!”he replied when he was asked what his “secret” is.

He went on to credit his wife with helping him maintain a “positive attitude,” as well as going to the gym “three days a week” to work out.