Dick Van Dyke may be turning 100 on Dec. 13, but his “Mary Poppins” co-star says the legendary actor has always been a mischievous kid at heart.
“It was so much fun. Especially because of Dick,” Karen Dotrice, 70, told The Post of working with Van Dyke on the 1964 Disney classic.
“The minute the camera wasn’t on him, he was just a badly behaved little boy.”
Dotrice, who played young Jane Banks alongside Van Dyke’s joyful chimney sweep Bert and Julie Andrews’ magical no-nonsense nanny Mary Poppins, still vividly remembers her wild first-ever encounter with the Hollywood icon.
“The first time I met Dick, I was having a costume fitting at Burbank Studios and arrived there, and he was bent over double, having a plaster cast made of his bottom,” she laughed. “You can only imagine him sort of peeking around the corner, having a giggle.”
“So that was an interesting first time meeting the legendary Dick Van Dyke,” she joked.
The British-born actress, who was only 9 when they filmed the perennial musical fantasy comedy, said keeping a straight face around him was almost impossible.
“What was it like to work with him? As I say, he was just a very naughty boy,” Dotrice shared ahead of Van Dyke’s milestone birthday on Saturday.
“He’d make you laugh so much,” she added. “And then the camera light went on, and you had to pull yourself together, which was really difficult, because you couldn’t stop giggling.”
One moment in particular left the cast and crew both amused and terrified.
“During the tea party sequence, Dick being Dick, he wasn’t just going to sit there at a tea party,” Dotrice recalled. “He was doing flips and turns, and everybody down below was going nuts. And my chaperone was like, ‘Stop it, Karen, stop.’”
“We were having a blast. I’m surprised we didn’t all die,” she noted. “But he’s about to be 100, so he does something right.”
More than 60 years later, Van Dyke’s joyful spirit hasn’t changed, and Dotrice is still seeing signs of that classic Van Dyke vigor in real life.
“It’s lovely. He actually lives in Malibu, as well,” she shared. “Very often I’ll see him in our little grocery market down the hill. I’ll meet him in the frozen food section behind the peas. He loves to go out and about, and he loves to meet his public. He’s a super special, legendary American.”
Dotrice believes the “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” star’s boundless energy and a few signature moves are the secret to his longevity.
“He just has this joie de vivre,” she said. “The man is beyond alive and kicking. In fact, he does those sorts of sideways kicks that Dick’s known for.”
“He goes to the gym every day,” she continued. “He’s so physically fit, and he has a lovely younger wife who definitely keeps him fit. And so he’s got it made in the shade. He’s not going anywhere.”
With Van Dyke marking a century of life and laughs on Saturday, Dotrice is helping to celebrate his lasting legacy in the upcoming PBS documentary “American Masters – Starring Dick Van Dyke.”
The project will spotlight the “Bye Bye Birdie” actor’s life and career, and his former “Mary Poppins” co-star has shared a touching message for her longtime friend ahead of the doc’s release and his momentous day.
“You know how much I love you. I’ve known you since I was eight. I just adore you,” Dotice gushed. “You’ve always been like a second daddy to me…I feel part of the family. And you made me feel that way from day one at ‘Mary Poppins.’”
“So I love you,” she concluded. “Happy birthday, Dick.”
“American Masters – Starring Dick Van Dyke” premieres nationwide on Friday, Dec. 12, at 9 p.m. ET on PBS.
