DICK VAN DYKE IS 100 YEARS OLD TODAY!

Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor and comedian. His work spans screen and stage, and his awards include six Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award. He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1993, and then the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. He was recognized as a Disney Legend in 1998. He has been honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2020.

(From WIKIPEDIA)

Van Dyke often spoke of his admiration for silent film era comedians such as Buster Keaton and his hero Stan Laurel

Van Dyke had a chance to do his Stan Laurel impression on the Dick Van Dyke Show with Henry Calvin portraying Oliver Hardy.

With Nancy Kwan and Walt Disney

THE COMIC (1969) with Michele Lee and Mickey Rooney

A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM (2006) with Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs

 

FITZWILLY, WHAT A WAY TO GO!, THE ART OF LOVE, DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE, MARY POPPINS, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, NEVER A DULL MOMENT, BYE BYE, BIRDIE,  LT. ROBIN CRUSOE U.S.N.

COLUMBO - With Peter Falk and JoAnna Cameron in "Negative Reaction".

Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo and Dick Van Dyke as Paul Galesko

With Peter Falk, years after starring together in the Columbo episode "Negative Reaction

  

 

Barbara Bain, Patrick MacNee, Robert Culp, Robert Vaughn and Dick Van Dyke in

DIAGNOSIS MURDER

Dick Van Dyke reached the ripe old age of 100 on December 13th, 2025!

My Favorite Uncle.

I was recently rummaging through some old boxes I was unpacking during my recent move to a different city, when I came across this old caricature I did in 1989:

This guy happens to be my late uncle, Salvador Lomelí, who was my mother's older brother. And it brought back some very nice memories of my earlier life, when I was recently married and he would frequently drop by to visit! My uncle was a huge movie fan and he knew almost everything about films,  as far back as the early silents up to the late 80s and beyond.  We spent many evenings listening to soundtracks and reminiscing about our favorite movies. He was quite knowledgeable about filmmaking although his chosen profession was as a librarian. I learned quite a lot from him, not only about films but also about classical music, painting (he had been an art student at the Academy of San Carlos, a very prominent and renowned art school in Mexico) and many other subjects, including cooking recipes!

I remember we would sit in the living room, near my stereo system and browse through my movie book collection while listening to some appropriate music. He would stop on certain pictures from the books and tell me very interesting stories about the film in question or he would just describe the scenes to me.

    Eleanor Powell             Lucille Bremer

His prefered genre was musicals and he knew everything about them. He loved Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Lucille Bremer, Gene Kelly, Alice Faye and most of the other great stars of the musical scene of yesteryear. 

             Judy Garland            Alice Faye

Of course, we both had different tastes in some aspects and that was the ingredient that made our conversations even more interesting. I liked stars like Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan, Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall while he was more partial to Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Bette Davis, Betty Grable and Greta Garbo. We both agreed on Cary Grant although he loved Chaplin and wasn't so big on Laurel & Hardy, which I was. He liked Walt Disney cartoons and prefered them over Bugs Bunny and the other WB characters, but nevertheless, he was willing to watch anything with me...and he laughed and enjoyed all those films immensely.  Furthermore, he knew a lot about classical music, movie soundtracks and just as much about the great art painters or how to prepare a tasty paella.

To this day, I have never had a conversation with anyone else like the ones I used to have with him!  I do miss my uncle a lot. He never married, had no children and passed away in 1998 under strange circumstances.  I deeply felt his departure. However, I frequently think about him whenever I glance at my movie book collection, admire great paintings at a museum or when I see an old musical on the TV screen.  Rest in Peace, dear uncle Salvador!

Celebrated Mexican painter Juan O'Gorman (1902-1982), dedicated this lithograph to my uncle in 1963:

 

(As a footnote, I should mention my uncle was gay. He knew I knew this but we never addressed the issue because it was never, in any way, relevant to us. I just mention the fact in case some of you were wondering.)