“I was so nervous talking to him because, I mean, it’s Dick Van Dyke!”
“He’s a hero of mine.
First of all, I’m like his biggest fan.
Credit: Jay Maidment/Disney
I know there are millions of fans, but I really feel like one of his biggest.
I know everyDick Van Dyke Show[episode] intimately.
Of course I knowBye Bye Birdieand all of them, but I go even pastMary PoppinsandChitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Disney
You know,Robinson Crusoethat he did for Disney, and so, so many others.
I just was a humongous fan.
That was an amazing thing.”
“I thought, ‘Well, this is handy.
I’ve grown into the part.
I won’t need any make-up!'”
Van Dyke said in a press-kit interview with Disney.
He actually, for me, looked too good.
Mr. Dawes in the first one was kind of scruffy.
This guy was pretty well-turned-out!"
He still had to play it old because he’s not that at all.
He’s so youthful!"
No stunt double neededbecause Van Dyke did all of them.
“Every… one,” promises Marshall.
“Oh, I could never…
I wouldneverdo a double for him.
All of that is him, every bit of it.
He didn’t use Lin’s hand.
He didn’t even use the stool.
He just jumped up.
We were like, ‘What did he just do!?’
Because he could, and he was so excited to do that.Andwe did it a few times!
It’s not like we just did one take!”
“He just waved us away, almost like, ‘Get out of my way.’
“There was no acting required,” laughs Miranda.
“Honestly I just spent the whole time grilling him aboutBye Bye Birdie.")
For Miranda, it was because of an off-script tangent.
(Well, a few chords, technically.)
Miranda recalls, “He has this beautiful monologue, but then he also sang ‘Feed the Birds.’
Blunt had a special moment of her own with Van Dyke.
As Marshall tells it, Van Dyke’s monologue to the Banks children did him in.
Because it was just the whole thing.
Disarming, yes, but also dazzling.
“He’s just so extraordinary,” Marshall says.
And for us, that was another dream come true.”
