Co-star recalls 'badly behaved' Dick Van Dyke on 'Mary Poppins' set ahead of icon's 100th birthday

Watch Co-star recalls 'badly behaved' Dick Van Dyke on 'Mary Poppins' set ahead of icon's 100th birthday - New York Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Dick was so funny and so naughty. And we had so many laughs. I remember the first time I met him

00:08was, you know, I grew up in the countryside in England in the Cotswolds. And so my mum and I

00:15and sisters flew to California to start costume fittings for Mary Poppins. And first time I met

00:23Dick, I was having a costume fitting at Burbank Studios and arrived there. And he was bent over

00:29double having a plaster cast made of his bottom of his derriere. And, you know, you can only imagine

00:36him sort of peeking around the corner, having a giggle. And I was there to have the same thing

00:42because these plaster casts would then use, they attached wires to them and those would be used

00:48for things like the tea party sequence, flying up on the air with Uncle Albert. So that was an

00:56interesting first time meeting for the legendary Dick Van Dyke. And then, you know, just what was

01:02it like to work with him? As I say, he was just a very naughty boy. And it was difficult because,

01:09you know, he'd make you laugh so much. And then you had, you know, the camera light went on and you had

01:15to pull yourself together, which was really difficult because you couldn't stop giggling.

01:19That tea party sequence I mentioned. Oh boy, you know, we kids, we were like 40 feet off the ground

01:30and there were, you know, it wasn't very techno knowledgeable back then. And we just had like

01:37old mattresses on the floor in case we fell. And there we are up in the air. And Dick being Dick,

01:44you know, he wasn't just going to sit there at a tea party doing this. He was doing flips and turns

01:51and, you know, everybody down below was going nuts. And my chaperone was sort of like, stop it here

01:56and stop again. And we're having a blast. So, you know, I'm surprised we didn't all die, but, you know,

02:03he's about to be a hundred on Saturday. So he does something right. He actually lives in Malibu as well.

02:08Um, and very often I'll see him, uh, in our little grocery market down the hill, this nice little

02:17kind of farm to table place. And, uh, and I'll, I'll meet him in the frozen food section, you know,

02:22behind the peas and go, Oh Dick, hi, how are you? You know, so he, he loves to go out and about and he

02:29loves to meet his public. And, uh, um, yeah, he's just a super special, um, legendary American.

02:36The man is beyond alive and kicking. In fact, he does those sort of sideways kicks that Dick's

02:42known for. Um, and you know, and he goes to the gym every day. He's so physically fit and he has a,

02:49a lovely, a lot younger wife who definitely keeps him fit, Arlene. And so he's got a maid in the

02:55shade. He's not going anywhere. Dick, you know how much I love you. I've known you since I was eight

03:00and I'm not going to fill in the years because that's, you know, it's first face. Um, I just adore

03:06you Dick. You've always been like a second daddy to me. You're a dear friend. I love you and your

03:12wife Arlene and all of your kids and, and grandkids and everything. I feel part of the family and you

03:20made me feel that way from day one at Mary Poppins. So I love you. Happy birthday, Dick.