Dick Van Dyke shares his secret to keeping young at 99

27 January 2025, 15:12

Dick Van Dyke smiling in the 1960s and in 2024.
Dick Van Dyke has opened up about his secret to staying youthful in old age. Picture: Getty

By Hannah Watkin

The Mary Poppins star is still feeling youthful in his hundredth year.

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Dick Van Dyke has opened up about his secret to longevity.

Appearing on Cheers star Ted Danson’s Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, Dick revealed to Ted that regular gym workouts are what's keeping him fit as a fiddle at 99.

“Somebody said: ‘To what do you attribute your age and physical condition?’” the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang actor recalled in the double-date themed episode, which saw Ted and Dick joined by their wives, Mary Steenburgen and Arlene Silver.

“I said: ‘I’ve always exercised three days a week.’ We go to the gym, still, three days a week, and I think that’s it,” Dick explained.

Three Men and a Baby star Ted, 77, revealed he used to see his fellow showbiz friend at a Malibu-based gym they both shared in the past.

“If I got there early enough, I would see you literally work out on some weight machines, and then – almost like you were doing circuit training – you would, not walk, to the next machine, you’d dance!

Dick Van Dyke smiling
Dick Van Dyke is still keeping fit at 99 years old. Picture: Getty

“You literally danced to the next machine! And I watched that for a couple of weeks, and finally I talked to you about your exercise, and you said that you would come to the gym and work out... and then you would go home and swim laps for however [long], and then you would get back into bed and take a nap.”

Dick confirmed Ted’s account of his workout routines, replying: “Exactly.”

He then explained that these days: “I’m doing a lot of stretching and yoga-type things. Sit ups. And they have machines... something for almost every exercise.”

Dick with his wife Arlene in 2016.
Dick with his wife Arlene in 2016. Picture: Getty

Dick Van Dyke’s love of dancing to keep spry despite his age won’t surprise fans, who just last month saw the entertainer dance around in the music video for Coldplay’s ‘All My Love’.

“I’m acutely aware that I’m- you know, I could go any day now,” the treasured actor said candidly during the short film which was focused on his amazing life and loving family.

“I don’t know why, [but] it doesn’t concern me, I’m not afraid of it,” he added. “I have that feeling, totally against anything intellectual I have, that I’m going to be alright."

Coldplay - ALL MY LOVE (Official Video) (Directors' Cut)