Dramatic roles and career comeback
In 1969, Van Dyke appeared in the comedy-drama
The Comic, which was written and directed by
Carl Reiner. Van Dyke plays a
silent-film era comedian who struggles with
alcoholism and
depression. Reiner wrote the film especially for Van Dyke, who would often talk of his admiration for
silent film era comedians such as
Charlie Chaplin,
Buster Keaton,
Ben Turpin and his hero,
Stan Laurel. He also began starring in a series of
commercials as a
spokesperson for
Kodak.
In 1971, Van Dyke starred with
Hope Lange in another sitcom called
The New Dick Van Dyke Show. In it, he played Dick Preston, a local talk show host in
Phoenix, Arizona. Van Dyke was living in
Arizona at the time and the show was filmed there. Despite airing for three seasons, the show was not as popular as his previous series had been.
In 1973, Van Dyke voiced his animated likeness for the
October 27,
1973 installment of
Hanna-Barbera's
The New Scooby-Doo Movies, "Scooby-Doo Meets Dick Van Dyke" (aka "The Haunted Carnival"), the series' final first run episode.
In 1974, Van Dyke received wide acclaim and an
Emmy nomination for his role as an alcoholic businessman in the
television movie The Morning After. Regarded by many as the most realistic television film ever made dealing with alcoholism, it is sometimes shown at treatment centers. The final scene in particular is regarded by many as chilling and unforgettable. It was at this time that Van Dyke admitted he had recently overcome a real-life drinking problem.
In
1975, he played another atypical role as a murdering photographer in an episode of the popular series
Columbo. He also began doing
public service announcements for the
National Fire Protection Agency through
1984. Van Dyke returned to comedy in 1976 with the
sketch comedy show
Van Dyke and Company which also starred
Andy Kaufman and
Super Dave Osborne. Despite being cancelled after only three months, the show won the
Emmy for Outstanding Comedy-Variety Series, beating
Saturday Night Live. In 1977, Van Dyke then joined the cast of
The Carol Burnett Show after
Harvey Korman left the show. Unfortunately, his comedy style did not work as well with Burnett's, and he left the show after three months. For the next decade, he appeared mainly in low-rated TV movies. One exception was another atypical role as a murdering judge on the first episode of the TV series
Matlock in 1986 starring
Andy Griffith. In 1988, Van Dyke returned with another sitcom called
The Van Dyke Show which co-starred his son,
Barry. The show was cancelled after just five episodes.
His career seemed essentially over by
1989 when Dick Van Dyke started a career comeback. First, he took a guest starring role on
NBC's hit TV series
The Golden Girls playing Dorothy's (
Bea Arthur's) beau, who decides to give up being a lawyer to become a circus clown. The role earned him his first
Emmy nomination since 1977. In
1990, Van Dyke, whose usual role had been the amiable hero, took a small but villainous turn as the crooked
D.A Fletcher in
Warren Beatty's movie
Dick Tracy. The reviews he received for
Tracy led him to star in a series of TV movies on
CBS that became the foundation for his popular television drama,
Diagnosis: Murder, which ran from
1993 to
2001. (He first played the character,
Dr. Mark Sloan, in an episode of
Jake and the Fatman.) He continued to find television work after the show ended, including a dramatically and critically successful performance of
The Gin Game, produced for television in 2003 that reunited him with
Mary Tyler Moore, a 2004 on
Scrubs, where he played a doctor who could not keep up with the changing ways of medical care, and a starring role as Dr. Jonathan Maxwell in a made-for-TV movie in 2006. In 2004, he reunited with Moore once again as he reprised the role of Rob Petrie for a Carl Reiner-produced TV special
The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited.
Van Dyke returned to motion pictures in the 2006 film
Curious George as Mr. Bloomsberry. His most recent role is Cecil in the
Ben Stiller film
Night at the Museum, released in December 2006. In January 2007 Van Dyke reprised his role as Dr. Jonathan Maxwell in
Murder 101: College Can Be Murder for the Hallmark Channel . In an interview included on the DVD release of
Night at the Museum, Van Dyke jokes that he keeps trying to retire but something seems to always come up. Van Dyke's latest
Murder 101 movie is set to air in August 2007.
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