My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business by author Dick Van Dyke Boo
My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business by author Dick Van Dyke, Boo... Books
After toying with “get[ting] serious about my life” by becoming a minister (now we know why he was so convincing as Rev. Clayton Brooks in 1971’s Cold Turkey!), the beloved showman manufactured enough of his own luck to win over a chorus of naysayers. They included his TV co-star Rose Marie, who branded Van Dyke “the Six-Foot Tower of Jell-O” for his on-set aversion to conflict, and his own father, a saxophonist-turned-cookie salesman who once “made a surprising confession: He never thought I would amount to much of anything.” Now 85 — goofy grin, “limber limbs” and manic energy all still intact — Van Dyke embraces his anecdotage in these pages, savoring his role as the “iron man” of the entertainment industry: Diagnosis Murder, the mystery series he headlined on CBS from 1993 to 2001, ran three years longer than The Dick Van Dyke Show. “My life has been a magnificent indulgence,” concludes “Dorian Van Dyke” (Ben Stiller’s admiring nickname for his co-star in Night at the Museum, 2006). “I have been able to do what I love and share it. Who would want to quit?” Allan Fallow is the book editor of AARP The Magazine.
Books for Grownups - April 2011
AARP The Magazine and the editors of Publishers Weekly have teamed up to about the latest fiction, nonfiction and how-to books of interest to you. Featured AARP Member Benefits See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures
Review Dick Van Dyke s New Book Is Candid — and Fun
Actor tells all about his life — on screen and off
Dick Van Dyke can’t stop thanking Carl Reiner. And why should he? Not only did Reiner pen the funniest lines of the dancer-comedian’s career for The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966), but he also named that famous sitcom after its relatively unknown star to “make both Dick and the show a household name.” In his winningly candid new memoir, My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business, Van Dyke presents his Reinerian tutelage as one of the best moves he made on his zigzag road to comedic mastery. But he doesn’t downplay his missteps either: firings, a home eviction, divorce, alcoholism — and that catastrophic Cockney accent in Mary Poppins. See also: .After toying with “get[ting] serious about my life” by becoming a minister (now we know why he was so convincing as Rev. Clayton Brooks in 1971’s Cold Turkey!), the beloved showman manufactured enough of his own luck to win over a chorus of naysayers. They included his TV co-star Rose Marie, who branded Van Dyke “the Six-Foot Tower of Jell-O” for his on-set aversion to conflict, and his own father, a saxophonist-turned-cookie salesman who once “made a surprising confession: He never thought I would amount to much of anything.” Now 85 — goofy grin, “limber limbs” and manic energy all still intact — Van Dyke embraces his anecdotage in these pages, savoring his role as the “iron man” of the entertainment industry: Diagnosis Murder, the mystery series he headlined on CBS from 1993 to 2001, ran three years longer than The Dick Van Dyke Show. “My life has been a magnificent indulgence,” concludes “Dorian Van Dyke” (Ben Stiller’s admiring nickname for his co-star in Night at the Museum, 2006). “I have been able to do what I love and share it. Who would want to quit?” Allan Fallow is the book editor of AARP The Magazine.
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Books for Grownups - April 2011
AARP The Magazine and the editors of Publishers Weekly have teamed up to about the latest fiction, nonfiction and how-to books of interest to you. Featured AARP Member Benefits See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures