Dick Van Dyke Takes Up the Ukulele at Age 97
Take it from Dick Van Dyke, old dogs can learn new tricks.
“My first ukulele lesson with @getstartedplayingukulele @bijoubox’s third,” the 97-year-old actor captioned an Instagram video of himself strumming a tune on the ukulele on Monday, August 21. “It’s never too late to start something new #dandyvandyclub @curedaily @alauradesign.”
Fans flooded the comments of Van Dyke’s post with encouraging messages. One user wrote, “Love that you’re still trying new things! A lesson in how to stay young.” Another commented, “Amen! I started tap dancing at age 60. I’ll never win any awards for it, but I’m having fun.”
Van Dyke also shared several fans’ reactions to his ukulele lesson via his Instagram on Monday. “You’re nothing short of amazing @official_dick_van_dyke,” one user captioned a repost of the clip. “I hope you feel that and I hope you know that.”
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While another fan dubbed him a “legend,” a third user called the Mary Poppins star “an inspiration for making the most out of life.”
Van Dyke has maintained an active Hollywood career for over six decades. Earlier this year, he competed on The Masked Singer as the mascot Gnome. The star was the first celebrity in disguise to be sent home during the show’s season 9 premiere in February and became the oldest contestant in the show’s history.
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“When they asked me to do it, I had never seen it. So I looked at it on the air and it looked like fun,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “And I was so positive that nobody would ever guess it was me, that they would have somebody 97 years old on there. And the experience was weird, because they have to keep it a secret from the crew. So I walked around with my head covered with people leading me. They’ve got a nice crew, but I never got to meet any of them!”
One month after his brief stint on the Fox singing competition series, Van Dyke sustained “minor injuries” from a car accident in Malibu, California. According to CNN, he was driving a silver 2018 Lexus LS 500 when he accidentally slid into a gate on March 15.
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TMZ later reported that Van Dyke was treated by paramedics at the scene and was bleeding from his mouth and nose and had potentially suffered a concussion. The outlet noted the actor did not wish to go to the hospital for further treatment.
Van Dyke’s most recent credit is the 2020 Jim Carrey Showtime series, Kidding. He shares four kids — Christian, 73, Barry, 72, Stacy, 68, and Carrie, 62 — with his ex-wife, Margie Willett, who died in 2008 at the age of 81. Van Dyke tied the knot with his current wife, Arlene Silver, four years later.
