Showbiz legend Dick Van Dyke, 99, walked with the help of a cane and his much younger wife Arlene when he surfaced in Los Angeles this week.
In a touch of fan service, he wore a sweater that read: ‘Just a spoonful of sugar,’ a famous phrase from his 1964 musical classic Mary Poppins.
Now approaching his centenary, the song-and-dance man seemed frail and walked with a slight stoop while out with Arlene on Wednesday.
Stepping into the Los Angeles sun, he leaned on a walking stick with his left hand, while Arlene – a makeup artist – kept a supportive arm behind him.
Eventually they came to a set of stairs, and Dick proved how spry he remains by managing to descend them without Arlene’s assistance.
Instead, the Missouri-born hoofer made his way down on his own, gripping his cane and using the banister as Arlene, 54, walked watchfully beside him.
Showbiz legend Dick Van Dyke, 99, walked with the help of a cane and his much younger wife Arlene when he surfaced in Los Angeles this week
The pair – who are 46 years apart in age – went down the aisle in 2012, six years after they met backstage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Their latest sighting comes days after Dick surprised Arlene by singing to her at her boisterous birthday party at the Malibu bar Aviator Nation Dreamland.
After the guests belted out Happy Birthday to You, Dick planted a kiss on his wife’s mouth, in footage from the party posted to Instagram.
The longtime couple then sat down on armchairs opposite each other, whereupon Dick took a microphone and delivered a glowing testimonial to his wife.
‘In two and a half months, I’m gonna be 100 years old – I hope – and I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman in my life than this one,’ he said.
He recalled that he had ‘never walked up to a strange woman in my life’ until Arlene ‘walked by him’ backstage at the 2006 SAG Awards.
‘Without even thinking, I jumped out and said: “Hi, I’m Dick!” And I found out she was a makeup lady, hired her and now we’ve been married 13 years and I couldn’t be happier. Happy birthday, sweetheart,’ he cooed.
The happy occasion came during a turbulent year in which Dick terrifyingly had to ‘crawl’ to his car while evacuating his Malibu home during the Los Angeles fires.
Stepping into the Los Angeles sun, he leaned on a walking stick with his left hand, while Arlene – a makeup artist – kept a supportive arm behind him
Eventually they came to a set of stairs, and Dick proved how spry he remains by managing to descend them without Arlene’s assistance
Instead, the Missouri-born hoofer made his way down on his own, gripping his cane and using the banister as Arlene, 54, walked watchfully beside him
In a touch of fan service, he wore a sweater that read: ‘Just a spoonful of sugar,’ a famous phrase from his 1964 musical classic Mary Poppins
The pair – who are 46 years apart in age – went down the aisle in 2012, six years after they met backstage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards
The outing came during a turbulent year in which Dick terrifyingly had to ‘crawl’ to his car while evacuating his Malibu home during the Los Angeles fires
As the blaze approached his house, he tried to use a hose but soon ‘exhausted myself, I couldn’t get up,’ he explained to a local news outlet, as aired on Today
‘Three neighbors came and carried me out and came back and put out a little fire in the guest house and saved me,’ added the Bye Bye Birdie star
Fans were left concerned this June when Dick was forced to drop out of hosting his musical fundraising event Vandy Camp owing to illness
As the blaze approached his house, he tried to use a hose but soon ‘exhausted myself, I couldn’t get up,’ he explained to a local news outlet, as aired on Today.
‘Three neighbors came and carried me out and came back and put out a little fire in the guest house and saved me,’ added the Bye Bye Birdie star.
While Dick and Arlene were able to escape with almost all their animals, their cat Bobo ran off and they ultimately had to leave the house without him.
After they frantically told the public Bobo was missing, there was ‘so much interest in his disappearance that Animal Control was called in to assist,’ Dick wrote on Facebook. ‘But, thankfully he was easy to find and not harmed.’
Fans were left concerned this June when Dick was forced to drop out of hosting his musical fundraising event Vandy Camp owing to illness.
Arlene, who was meant to co-host the gala with Dick, had to take the stage alone at the Arlene & Dick Van Dyke Theater at Malibu High School and do the honors.
‘When you’re 99-and-a-half years old, you have good days and bad days,’ she told the audience, according to People magazine. ‘And unfortunately, today is not a good day for him, and he’s sick that he can’t be here.’
Dick began his performing career during World War II, dropping out of high school to join the US Army Air Corps and eventually landing military work as a radio announcer and an entertainer for the troops.
Their latest sighting comes days after Dick surprised Arlene by singing to her at her boisterous birthday party at the Malibu bar Aviator Nation Dreamland
After the guests belted out Happy Birthday to You, Dick planted a kiss on his wife’s mouth, in footage from the party posted to Instagram
The longtime couple then sat down on armchairs opposite each other, whereupon Dick took a microphone and delivered a glowing testimonial to his wife
In the 1950s, he jobbed around as a nightclub performer and drifted into television – eventually starting his tenure at CBS in 1955, when he was enlisted to replace no less than Jack Paar as host of The Morning Show.
It was on Broadway, however, that he first became a major name as the leading man of the smash hit 1960 stage musical Bye Bye Birdie.
With music by Charles Strouse of later Annie fame, Bye Bye Birdie satirized the frenzy of Elvis Presley fans and earned Dick a Tony Award.
His performance onstage also attracted the attention of Carl Reiner, who brought him to Hollywood, where The Dick Van Dyke Show began.
An instant classic, The Dick Van Dyke Show ran from 1961 to 1966 and made a nationwide star out of its namesake, as well as his leading lady Mary Tyler Moore.
Dick’s Hollywood career soared in the 1960s, landing him in movie musicals like Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the film adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie.
In the 1970s he pursued more dramatic roles, playing alcoholics in The Comic and The Morning After and then confessing he had gone on the wagon in real life.
He became a regular on The Carol Burnett Show and hopped between guest roles on the top TV series of the 1970s and 1980s, from Columbo to The Golden Girls.
Dick’s Hollywood career soared in the 1960s, landing him in movie musicals like Mary Poppins, which he is pictured in with its Oscar-winning lead Julie Andrews
Amid a glorious 1960s that included his sitcom and his most beloved movies, he also starred in the classic Hollywood musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (pictured)
Dick and his son Barry Van Dyke then starred together on Diagnosis: Murder, a successful crime comedy that ran eight seasons from 1993 to 2001.
A classic showbiz trouper, he continued working through his 80s and 90s, including in the 2018 film Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
In recent years he has been lavished with baubles for lifetime achievement, including a Kennedy Center Honor and a designation as a Disney Legend.
Yet despite plenty of laurels to rest on, he has stayed in the game, appearing this year on The Masked Singer and Days Of Our Lives.