Dick Van Dyke, indisputably one of the greats of the golden age of television, is admired and beloved by audiences the world over for his beaming smile, his physical dexterity, his impeccable comic timing, his ridiculous stunts, and his unforgettable screen roles.
His trailblazing television programme, The Dick Van Dyke Show, was one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1960s and introduced another major television star, Mary Tyler Moore; it also won fifteen Primetime Emmy Awards. But Dick Van Dyke was also an enormously engaging movie star whose films, including Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, have been discovered by each new generation of fans and are as beloved today as when they first appeared. Who doesn't know the word 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'?
A colourful, loving, richly detailed look at the decades of a multi-layered life, My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business will enthral every generation of reader, from baby-boomers who recall when Rob Petrie became a household name, to all those still enchanted by Bert's 'Chim Chim Cher-ee'. This is a lively, heart-warming memoir of a performer who still thinks of himself as a 'simple song-and-dance man', but who is, in every sense of the words, a classic entertainer.
'It's hard not to like Dick Van Dyke – but this will make you admire him' – Playbill
'A fascinating self-portrait' – Mary Tyler Moore