Julie Andrews has revealed how she felt when she met her Mary Poppins co-star Dick Van Dyke for the first time.

Andrews, 88, starred opposite Van Dyke, 98, in the classic 1964 movie musical. She opened up about the memory during the two-hour CBS special “Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic,” which aired Thursday (Dec. 21).

“If I remember correctly, it was very hot in early September and the Disney team had built a large stage out in the back of the studio and created a shade roof out of a huge tarp,” the Sound of Music actor explained. “When I arrived on the first day, Dick was already working with the choreographers and dancers.”

She continued: “I had never done a film before, and I had given birth to my beautiful daughter Emma almost six weeks earlier, and I quickly realized that I had better pull up my socks and get in shape.” I found It's pretty daunting, I can tell you that.

Andrews remembered Van Dyke as “young, as fit as can be and truly stunning to look at,” adding that the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang actor “couldn't have been kinder, genuinely sweeter and more helpful.” I like to think so “We hit it off straight away.”

“It was so nice to see him imitating the animated penguins or trying to ride the pony on the carousel. Become a magical chimney sweep. Actually, I think it was a very enjoyable film for the entire company,” she said.

“Mary Poppins” star Dick Van Dyke (Getty Images)

Andrews' first film role as the eponymous Mary Poppins, a magical nanny who brings fun and imagination into the lives of the two Banks children, earned her an Oscar for Best Actress. The next year she received an award for her starring role in 1965's The Sound of Music, followed by a third nomination in 1982 for the comedy musical Victor/Victoria.

Van Dyke, who played Bert in the original, returned for the 2018 sequel Mary Poppins Returns to play Mr. Dawes Jr., the son of Van Dyke, the greedy director of London's most important financial center also starred in the 1964 classic.

In early February, the Bye Bye Birdie actor revealed his secret to staying so young. “Having a beautiful young woman half my age taking care of me—that works!” Van Dyke told Yahoo!.

He credited his wife, 52-year-old makeup artist Arlene Silver, with helping him maintain a “positive attitude” and go to the gym “three days a week” to work out.

“I encourage everyone to do that because that’s how people age,” he said. “It's just a matter of stiffening up and not exercising the muscles and lungs. Practice is the answer.”

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Dick Van Dyke was one of the 2021 Kennedy Center Awards honorees. The film and television legend's career was showcased as he accepted the award alongside fellow honorees Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks and Midori.

At age 95, Van Dyke has a long resume in the entertainment industry dating back to the late 1950s, according to IMDB. One of his most popular roles was in the 1964 film “Mary Poppins,” in which he played both the role of jack-of-all-trades Bert the chimney sweep and the role of bank boss Mr. Dawes.

In an interview with CNN, Van Dyke once said “Mary Poppins” was his favorite role in his six-decade career. “I probably enjoyed the role in Mary Poppins the most,” he said. “It was so much fun. That's my favorite movie too.”

The Oscar-winning classic film was a great example of Van Dyke's singing and dancing skills.

Here's a look back at some of Van Dyke's most famous appearances in Mary Poppins.

“Pavement Artist/Chim Chim Cher-ee”

One of the most famous songs from “Mary Poppins” is “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” the famous duet by Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. But Van Dyke also performed a solo version of the song while his character did his chalk drawings on the streets of London.

The character Bert didn't exist until composers Robert and Richard Sherman wrote the song. They were inspired by a sketch of a whistling chimney sweep and initially thought Mary Poppins would sing the song to the children, but Walt Disney intervened and suggested that it would be better to create a new character.

“Walt said, 'You know, we've got this guy who paints pictures on the sidewalk, and we've got a one-man band, and we've got a guy who flies kites – why don't we make them all one guy and call him Bert? and he will also be the chimney sweep?” Robert Sherman once said, according to SongFacts.

“Step in Time” with the chimney sweep cast

Who can forget “Step in Time,” Van Dyke’s famous number featuring Bert and the other chimney sweeps dancing and singing on London rooftops? It was one of the liveliest routines in the film.

More than 55 years later, Van Dyke's legendary “Mary Poppins” performance was also remembered when professional dancer Derek Hough performed a version of “Step in Time” in his honor.

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” with Julie Andrews

One of the hardest song titles to pronounce – let alone spell – “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” made its debut in the Mary Poppins story when the Sherman brothers adapted PL Travers' book into a feature film, according to BBC News. The magical nanny Mary and her chimney sweep buddy recited the tongue twister word several times in one of the film's most famous sequences.

Richard Sherman once said the word came about the same way he and his brother invented words as children.

“We used to come up with the big double-speak words, we could think of a big offensive word for the kids and that's where it started,” he said. “We started with 'hideous,' and then you can sound smart and be precocious at the same time. We had “precocious” and “hideous” and we wanted something super colossal and that's cheesy, so we took “super” and doubled over to go “califragilistic,” which means nothing, it just came out that way. That’s what we did for two weeks in a nutshell.”

“I Love to Laugh” with Ed Wynn and Julie Andrews

Van Dyke showed off his Cockney accent more than his singing skills in the “I Love to Laugh” sequence. He told CNN that he focused primarily on dancing for the film, and the filmmakers gave him a vocal coach, who turned out to be Irish.

“And his Cockney wasn’t much better than mine,” Van Dyke said.

“While I was taking the picture, no one was making fun of me about the accent, but I definitely took it in afterwards,” he added.

Of the flights he took in the film – and particularly during this song – Van Dyke told the New York Times: “We had to fly all the time. Once [on the original movie] We were all up there playing “I Love to Laugh” and they were on their lunch break and everyone left and forgot we were DJing there. It must have taken 15 minutes for someone to notice and come and abandon us.”

CONTINUE READING: Kennedy Center Honors Artists and Presenters 2021

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LOS ANGELES (CBS SF/AP) — Dick Van Dyke will appear in Disney’s upcoming sequel to “Mary Poppins.”

Van Dyke played chimney sweep Bert in the 1964 original as well as the elderly banker, Mr. Dawes. He tells Entertainment Tonight that in “Mary Poppins Returns,” he’ll play Mr. Dawes’ son.

The 91-year-old comedy legend says he’ll be going to London in the spring to shoot his part, which he calls “a little song-and-dance number.”

He tells The Hollywood Reporter that the movie will be set 20 years after the original.

Emily Blunt is set to play Mary Poppins. Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Angela Lansbury and “Hamilton’s” Lin-Manuel Miranda will also star.

TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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In 1964, Dick Van Dyke starred as Bert the chimney sweep alongside his good friend and iconic actress Julie Andrews in the beloved film “Mary Poppins.” Based on the popular series of novels written by Australian writer Pamela Lyndon Travers, the film has entertained generations with its imaginative portrayal of the magical Mary, an English nanny who must help two children and their neglectful father.

However, the highly entertaining and fun film came under some controversy in 2019 when Daniel Pollack-Pelzner blasted the film for perpetuating racial stereotypes in a story for The New York Times. He particularly pointed out one scene where Mary and Bert dance with chimney soot on their faces, which he said resembles “blackface” — a callback to 19th century minstrel shows in which white performers would imitate Black people.

He wrote about the racial undertones in the film, connecting it back to Travers’ novel series in which blackface and racial slurs were used several times. The author claimed that Black children who read her book enjoyed the fact that some of the characters spoke in a stereotypical southern American dialect. However, when the San Francisco Public Library banned the book, citing the allegedly racially offensive material, Travers rewrote the questionable passages in 1981 so that her books wouldn’t be hidden away from potential readers.

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In 1964’s musical Mary Poppins, a cheerfully soot-covered Dick Van Dyke glides across a London set as Bert the chimney sweep singing “Chim Chim Cher-ee” with pure glee. Later, he’s barely recognizable in the role of crusty banker Mr. Dawes Sr. “I had to go to Walt [Disney] and beg him to let me do it. So, he made me do a screen test,” recalls Dick of playing the surprise second role in the film. “I got the part — and I didn’t even charge him extra! It was such fun.”

With a remarkable career that has spanned seven decades, Dick, 97, has a lot to look back on. “I didn’t know I was going to be an entertainer. I thought I was going to starve,” says the Illinois-reared star, who began performing in high school. His service during WWII as an Army radio announcer eventually led to Broadway, television’s The Dick Van Dyke Show and starring roles in two of the world’s most beloved family-friendly musicals, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. “I’m getting a lot of letters from kids who have just discovered those old movies,” he says. “I know that I’ll be remembered more for Bert than anything. I’m happy about it.”

Dick Van Dyke: Julie Andrews Was ‘Fun’ To Work With

Of course, his career didn’t end with Mary Poppins. Dick’s later work included more film roles — including a couple of turns as villains — a return to series television with Diagnosis: Murder, plus guest starring spots and several books, including 2015’s Keep Moving. “I’m the kind of person who gets out of the right side of the bed,” explains Dick. “I’m full of ideas and make a list of the things I want to do.”

In 1961, Dick won a Tony for his featured role in Broadway’s original cast of Bye Bye Birdie. He and the other members of the show — including Chita Rivera and Paul Lynde — appeared together on an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. It’s where America got a first look at Dick’s graceful footwork as he performed “Put On a Happy Face.”

In less than a year, Dick would become the star of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Conceived by Carl Reiner and costarring Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam, the series was a ratings winner that earned four Emmys for Outstanding Comedy and three for its lead actor. “It was five terrific years with a very talented, sweet, wonderful man,” Rose Marie gushed to Closer in 2017. “I know it sounds like a cliché, but we were like a family. Honest to God.”

Dick remembers it as “the happiest, most creative five years of my life.” He loved that Carl allowed them to improvise and occasionally sing and dance. “My favorite show was the one where we all got to perform,” he tells Closer.

Over the course of the show, Dick developed a crush on Mary Tyler Moore, who played his wife, Laura. “She had never done comedy before, but we got to where we could read each other’s mind,” he recalls.

During a break from the show, Dick teamed up with Julie Andrews to make Mary Poppins. “I just lucked out with the leading ladies,” admits Dick, who calls Julie “talented and easy to get along with.” It was a pretty great way to spend the summer. “As I told Julie, ‘If I’m not enjoying myself, I stink. If I’m having fun, I’m pretty good,’” says Dick. “We just enjoyed ourselves.”

In 1993, Dick returned to television with Diagnosis: Murder, a medical crime drama that became a family affair. “My son Barry has been on from the beginning,” said Dick in 2000. Grandson Shane also played a medical student. “At one point or another, I’ve had all four of [Barry’s] kids on the show,” said the actor, who has enjoyed a diverse career but has always been proudest of his family-friendly projects. “I think we’re kind of an alternate choice for people who have had it with sex and violence,” he said of Diagnosis: Murder. “You can watch it with the kids and feel safe about it.”

This February, Dick made his way to another show with mass appeal. He calls competing in disguise as Gnome on The Masked Singer “the weirdest thing” he has ever done in his long career. “I think some people thought I was dead,” Dick jokes.

Although he was voted out first, Dick exited the competition with a smile singing Mary Poppins’ “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” It brought the judges to tears. “A lot of the audience started to sing with us, too,” says Dick. “It was great, great fun to bring back those memories for people.”

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Disneyland visitors ringing in the first day of spooky season may have been lucky enough to get a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious surprise. A viral Instagram reel shows Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke atop a balcony in New Orleans Square inside the park. The beloved star is best known in the Disney pantheon for his role as Bert, the chimney sweep, in the 1964 musical “Mary Poppins.”

“I would have lost my collective spoon full of sugar if I saw the absolute legend there,” user @jedi_master_alex wrote in the comments.

“I was there, and I just cried!! An iconic legend….,” another user @acwfoster wrote.

Van Dyke is no stranger to making guest appearances at Disneyland. In Dec. 2015, the star spent his 90th birthday in the park and was spotted on the same balcony where guests sang him “Happy Birthday.” In 2012, he also spent his birthday at Disneyland as the celebrity guest for a holiday tradition: the annual Candlelight Ceremony.

Van Dyke has spent much of his life as a celebrity figurehead for Disneyland after appearing in several Disney films. In “Mary Poppins,” he played not only Bert but Mr. Dawes Sr., the director of the bank. He also starred in the 1966 film “Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.” And in 2001, Van Dyke narrated “Walt: The Man Behind the Myth,” a documentary about the life of Walt Disney. 

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The world of Mary Poppins was practically perfect in every way – but behind-the-scenes there have been a number of devastating tragedies.

On-screen we were transported into a magical all-singing, all-dancing world with the much-loved British nanny and a various quirky characters.

But behind the innocent adventures of the 1964 classic, the cast were enduring personal struggles and health battles.

None more so than legendary actor Dick Van Dyke, who is thankfully still going strong at the age of 97-years-old and was recently unveiled as the Gnome on The Masked Singer.

From heartache to a suicidal battle with alcohol and a heartbreaking death, here’s a look back at the tragedies that befell the Mary Poppins cast.

Dick Van Dyke – Bert

Everyone loved cheery chimney sweep Bert(Image: Rex)

Played by Van Dyke, Bert was the one-man band, chimney sweep and kite seller with a terrible Cockney accent and a massive crush on Mary.

But during their days on set, Dick was hiding a dark secret – he was in the grips of alcoholism.

He was so desperate to get sober that he entered rehab twice, and when that failed he fell into a suicidal depression.

“We moved to a neighbourhood full of young families with the same age kids and everyone drank heavily, there were big parties every night. I would go to work with terrible hangovers which if you’re dancing is really hard,” he told the Telegraph.

“I was in deep trouble, you get suicidal and think you just can’t go on. I had suicidal feelings, it was just terrible.

“But then suddenly, like a blessing, the drink started not to taste good. I would feel a little dizzy and a little nauseous and I wasn’t getting the click. Today I wouldn’t want a drink for anything.”

After finally winning his 25-year battle, he returned to screens with Diagnosis Murder in 1993.

Dick Van Dyke was unveiled as the Gnome(Image: FOX)

Dick was unmasked as the Gnome of the American version of The Masked Singer this week – after reducing judge Nicole Scherzinger to tears.

He belted out a powerful rendition of When You’re Smiling by Frank Sinatra, then treated the audience to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins.

Nicole then gushed over the Mary Poppins icon as she broke down in tears.

“It was really dark in there. I couldn’t see anything,” Dick joked when asked how he found performing in the Gnome outfit.

“I love you so much, we love you, the whole world loves you so much. It’s an honour to have you on our show.

“I can’t believe you’re here, I’m trying to like play it cool. You look so gorgeous, you look so handsome,” she said.

Julie Andrews – Mary Poppins

Julie Andrews was apparently the opposite of her goodie-goodie character(Image: Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar)

Julie played the practically perfect Mary Poppins, but it was a different story off-camera.

Karen Dotrice, who played her young charge Jane Banks, said the Oscar winner was a foul-mouthed chain smoker behind-the-scenes.

“There was swearing. Julie Andrews was smoking on set. It was a very real 1960s set, I can tell you. They were polite around minors to begin with, but that soon ended,” she told The Sun.

Julie went on to win an Academy Award for her role before being cruelly robbed of the singing voice that had made her a star in a botched operation.

In 1997, she underwent surgery to remove noncancerous nodules from her vocal chords, but when she woke up her ability to sing had gone.

“If it had happened earlier, it would have been really devastating. As it was, it was devastating,” she told People magazine. “For a while, I was in total denial… I thought at the time, my voice was what I am.”

She later sued the two doctors and her case was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2000.

Matthew Garber – Michael Banks

Matthew Garber retired from acting soon after Mary Poppins(Image: Supplied by LMK)

Brit star Matthew played Michael Banks in the 1964 film Mary Poppins – but retired from acting aged 10.

He unknowingly contracted hepatitis while in India in 1976, but by the time his dad managed to get him home in 1977, it had already spread to his pancreas.

Sadly, Matthew died from haemorrhagic necrotising pancreatitis at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London at the age of just 21.

His brother Fergus, who was 13 when Matthew died, denied claims his brother contracted hepatitis by using drugs.

He said it had probably come from eating infected meat.

David Tomlinson – George Banks

David Tomlinson, pictured as Mr Banks, suffered a devastating personal loss(Image: Getty Images)

Tragically, David was widowed aged just 26 when his wife jumped from a hotel with her two sons, just weeks after they had got married.

Mary Lindsay Hiddingh’s first husband had been killed in action, leaving her to raise her two boys, Michael, eight, and John, six, alone.

Reportedly despondent over not being able to bring her children to the UK to be with David, Mary and the children plunged 15 floors on December 2, 1943, leaving him devastated.

He later married actress Audrey Freeman in May 1953 and they stayed together for 47 years until his death from a stroke aged 83.

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Claim:

In June 2020, activists called for Dick Van Dyke to be digitally removed from “Mary Poppins” due to the actor’s use of blackface.

Rating:

On Feb. 22, 2020, the Southend News Network published an article saying that activists were calling for the removal of actor Dick Van Dyke from the movie “Mary Poppins” due to Van Dyke’s use of “blackface”: 

Dick Van Dyke Condemned Over ‘Blackface’ Appearance In Mary Poppins

There have been calls for the actor Dick Van Dyke to be digitally edited out of the 1964 Disney Movie Mary Poppins after multiple people noticed that he had applied ‘blackface’ makeup for the role of Bert, the chimney sweep and general Jack of all trades.

But this item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The article originated with a website that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows:

Southend News Network was originally started in October 2015 with no real aims or objectives in mind other than to add a satirical/spoof-like touch to issues that people are passionate about in Southend On Sea. Above all else, SNN is all about having the occasional ‘dig’ at the powers that be, as well a slightly bigger and more frequent ‘dig’ at certain elements of local media!

This story went viral in June 2020 as the U.S. saw widespread protests against racial injustice and police brutality. As these protests continued, a number of companies issued statements in support of Black Lives Matter, and some started to wrestle with past racist content they may have produced or spread. HBO Max, for instance, briefly pulled “Gone With The Wind” to add a disclaimer about how the movie portrayed slavery. Netflix also removed content that featured characters done up in blackface.  

While there were some changes to movies and television shows in June 2020 due to their use of blackface or other racist stereotypes, there have not been any widespread efforts to remove Van Dyke from “Mary Poppins.” One reason for this may be because Van Dyke’s character’s face is covered in soot, and this is not — at least not explicitly — a racist caricature:

While this rumor originated from a satire website, and there have not been a widespread calls to have Van Dyke removed from “Mary Poppins,” some academics have labeled this scene problematic for being a “parody of black menace:”

“We’re in on the joke, such as it is: these aren’t really black Africans; they’re grinning white dancers in blackface. It’s a parody of black menace; it’s even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film’s racial hierarchy.”

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

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An Evening with Dick Van Dyke will be presented at 8:30 PM at the intimate club on West Sunset Boulevard. All tickets are $100.

Van Dyke was nominated for a Golden Globe for creating the role of chimney sweep Bert opposite Oscar winner Julie Andrews in the 1964 film Mary Poppins. The veteran actor has starred in several TV series, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Van Dyke and Company, and Diagnosis Murder. He has also been seen on the silver screen in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Dick Tracy, and his theatrical credits include The Girls Against the Boys; Bye, Bye Birdie; and The Music Man.

Read: You’ll Never Believe How Dick Van Dyke Got Started in Show BusinessClick here for tickets to the August performance.

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See Mary Poppins Returns Duo Lin-Manuel Miranda and Dick Van Dyke Honored at Geffen Playhouse Fundraiser

See Mary Poppins Returns Duo Lin-Manuel Miranda and Dick Van Dyke Honored at Geffen Playhouse Fundraiser

Backstage at the Geffen was held May 19 in the Gil Cates Theater.

6 PHOTOS

Matt Shakman, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dick Van Dyke, and Gil Cates, Jr.

Jordan Strauss/Invision for Geffen Playhouse/AP Images

Kristen Bell

Billy Crystal

Jordan Strauss/Invision for Geffen Playhouse/AP Images

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Jim Carrey

Dick Van Dyke with The Vantastix

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