With a career spanning 70 years, the “Mary Poppins” actor had yet to make soap operas. He made his debut in these endeavors at the age of 97, with a role in “Days of Our Lives.”
Dick Van Dyke is considered a comedy legend, a status he achieved throughout his career with seven decades. But, until now, the actor had not yet made soap operas. At the age of 97, he was invited to play a role in the long-running soap opera “Days of our lives”, which has been broadcast since 1965 and has already won 58 Emmy awards.
The actor, who appeared in films such as “Mary Poppins” or “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, was invited to play the role of “mystery man with amnesia”, according to Access Hollywood. “I’ve played old men before,” he said, “but funny old men.” “This is the first time I’ve played just my 97-year-old self.”
The actor also explained that he will act with Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn, stars of “Days of Our Lives”, and that the episode will be available on the service of transmission NBC’s Peacock in the fall.
According to Van Dyke, the invitation to participate in the soap opera arose from a simple gym meeting. “Drake and I go to the same gym,” he told Access Hollywood. “I used to joke with him and ask him ‘don’t you have papers for the old ones? Come on, give me a piece of paper.’ And he took it seriously. He got me a role.
The American actor explained that he began to prepare to join the well-known soap opera, something that involves seeing the last seasons and how the actors work. “I started seeing them. Some of these people have been doing this for 20 years. It’s all the homework I can do.”
Dick Van Dyke continues to have an active career, recently joining the “Masked Singer”, the format in which different public figures sing in disguise. In Portugal, the format was broadcast by SIC, under the name “A Máscara”.
“Days of Our Lives” began airing in 1965 on the North American channel NBC. In March of this year it was announced that the telenovela would begin to be broadcast exclusively on the transmission Peacock. It is currently in its 58th season and is already guaranteed to reach 60, since the saga has been renewed for two more seasons.
Source: Observadora
