Dick Van Dyke is opening up about how his wife helps keep him young.
In his new book, “100 Rules for Living to 100,” the 99-year-old legendary actor reflects on his life and the lessons he’s learned along the way, while also sharing tips on how to live a long life.
The book features anecdotes from his time on “Mary Poppins,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and other classics, while also focusing on his marriage to Arlene Silver, 54, whom he married in 2012.
“Arlene is half my age, and she makes me feel somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters my age, which is still saying a lot,” he wrote about his wife. “Every day she finds a new way to keep me up and moving, bright and hopeful and needed.”
The two met at the SAG Awards in 2006, when Silver was working as a makeup artist. Van Dyke wrote that “she quickly became my soulmate and love of my life.” He credited Silver and their “ongoing romance” as “the most important reason I have not withered away into a hermetic grouch.”
Van Dyke reflected on their first meeting, saying he “felt drawn” to her immediately, and although he “had never approached a strange woman before,” he introduced himself.
He later sent her an email that read: “Arlene, I’m afraid I was so smitten with you last night I couldn’t think of anything to say. Still, when the project at Hallmark starts, I’d like to give you a chance to talk with them. Would that be OK?”
Silver began working as his makeup artist. Within two years, he lost both his ex-wife, Margie Willett, and his partner, Michelle Triola – and he and Silver grew closer – and their relationship turned romantic.
In the book, the couple discuss their 48-year age gap. The actor told her he never thought about it and “just figured like you’d keep me feeling young forever.” Silver admitted she had some concerns but said after attending Burning Man one year, she realized what she wanted her life to be and embraced the adage that age is just a number.
“When I focused on what our life was, right then, I realized: this is the happiest I have ever been, hands down,” Silver said. “When you love somebody the way we love each other, age is just the last thing that matters.”
In his mid-70s, the “Mary Poppins Returns” star started the a cappella singing group, Dick Van Dyke and The Vantastix, performing songs from films and other projects he’s worked on.
He continues to perform with them occasionally, with Silver taking the reins to make sure her husband can still do what he loves.
“Arlene is my partner in love, life, and logistics. She has two phones and is often on both, scheduling and juggling more gigs and get-togethers than you could possibly imagine,” he wrote. “Arlene knows how much performing and being social nourishes my spirit and brings me alive. I would absolutely be origami guy if she didn’t have me singing and dancing.”
The actor reflected on aging ahead of his 99th birthday last year, after he starred in a music video for Coldplay’s song, “All My Love.” While the song isn’t about Van Dyke, the music video was filmed at his home and featured highlights from his career and touching moments with his family.
The video also featured moments of reflection from the actor, during which he acknowledged he “could go any day now.”
“I’m acutely aware that I could go any day now, but I don’t know why, it doesn’t concern me, I’m not afraid of it,” Van Dyke said in the video. “I have that feeling, totally against anything intellectual, that I’m going to be alright.”
“I think I’m one of those lucky people who got to do for a living what I would have done anyway,” he added. “When you think how lucky I am — I got to do what I do, play and act silly.”
Van Dyke will celebrate his 100th birthday on Dec. 13.
