In less than a week, Dick Van Dyke will reach an incredible milestone when the accomplished actor turns 100 years old. The man has certainly seen a lot in his century of life, most of that spent entertaining people. He’s also known some great people, like the iconic Walt Disney.
Dick Van Dyke’s Memories Of Walt Disney Are Heart-Warming
Walt Disney’s own birthday recently passed, his 124th, earlier this month. Yet despite the decades of age difference, Dick Van Dyke tells People that the two men instantly got along when they met during the production of Mary Poppins, due to their love of entertaining children. Van Dyke said…
I got to know Walt, I’m probably the last person alive who did. I got to know Walt pretty well, and we just got along. We decided that emotionally we were both 13 years old and that's why we love to do children's entertainment. He was a big kid, just so full of enthusiasm, and I just loved him.
It’s truly beautiful to hear Dick Van Dyke say such wonderful things about Walt Disney. At the same time, the particular way he phrases his comments has reminded me of something that I’d considered before, which is more than a little heartbreaking.
Dick Van Dyke Isn’t The Last Person Alive To Know Walt Disney, At Least Not Yet
Technically speaking, Dick Van Dyke isn’t the last person alive who knew Walt Disney. Off the top of my head, I instantly think of Bob Gurr, the Walt Disney Imagineer who designed Autopia and the Monorail for Disneyland. He is 94 years old, and he knew Walt personally as well. There are likely some others as well.
That said, the number of people who knew Walt Disney personally who are still with us is certainly a small club, and it’s getting smaller all the time. In just the last few years, we’ve lost the likes of songwriter Richard Sherman and former head of Disney Parks Dick Nunis.
The fact that we lost Walt Disney at 66, a comparatively young age, is already tragic enough. Who knows how he could have changed the world had he lived even just another decade? He may have created a city that changed the world, but the fact that we will soon be without people who knew him will make the man that much more distant. Nobody will be left who can tell stories like the one Dick Van Dyke is telling here.
This isn’t so much about knowing “what would Walt Do?” so much as it’s about losing what connection we have to a great man who had an incredible influence on the culture. Perhaps it is a good thing that Disneyland now has a Walt Disney animatronic, and one is coming to Walt Disney World as well. They were made when people who knew Walt were still with us, and they’ll help remind us who he was.
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