Disney celebrated the 95th birthday of beloved Mary Poppins actor Dick Van Dyke across social media on Sunday, Dec. 13.The Disney D23 Twitter account kicked off the festivities by posting a picture of Van Dyke as Bert in Mary Poppins, along with the caption, "Step in time! Wishing a happy birthday to Disney Legend Dick Van Dyke!"
The Walt Disney Archives Twitter account continued the celebration by posting a series of photos featuring Van Dyke dressed as Santa Claus. "Happy 95th birthday to #DisneyLegend Dick Van Dyke!" read the caption. "Here are some very jolly photos of Dick dressing up as Santa Claus during the filming of 20th Century Fox's 'What a Way to Go!' (1964)."
In addition to his portrayal of lovable chimney sweep Bert, Van Dyke's credits include The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1966), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), Dick Tracy (1990) and Night at the Museum (2006).
More recently, Van Dyke returned to the world of Mary Poppins in the 2018 sequel Mary Poppins Returns, in which he made a cameo as Mr. Dawes Jr., and performed a choreographed dance on top of a desk. Following the release of the film, director Rob Marshall told USA Today that 93-year-old Van Dyke performed the routine four times to ensure they had the perfect take and played up his age to portray the elderly Mr. Dawes. "He said 'I feel so at home here,' " Marshall recalled of filming Van Dyke's cameo. "He said that the spirit of the first film was here on the set, too. That meant the world to me."
Van Dyke also served as an advisor on Marvel's WandaVision, which takes cues from popular 1960s sitcoms. Series director Matt Shakman recently revealed that the iconic entertainer shared details about his time on The Dick Van Dyke Show over lunch at last year's D23 Expo.
"[The Dick Van Dyke Show] can be very broad with silly physical-comedy gags, and yet it never feels false, and I wondered how they did that," Shakman said at the time. "His answer was really simple: He basically said that if it couldn’t happen in real life, it couldn’t happen on the show."
WandaVision was filmed in part at Warner Bros. Ranch's Blondie Street in Burbank, which previously operated as a "home to classic sitcom houses" such as Bewitched and Father Knows Best. The series stars Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. The limited series debuts on Disney+ in December.