‘Having a beautiful young wife helps!’: Dick Van Dyke, 97, reveals his secrets to staying fit after wowing viewers as a gnome on The Masked Singer US
Dick Van Dyke has credited his “beautiful young wife” as the key to his youthfulness at age 97.
The Mary Poppins star married 51-year-old makeup artist Arlene Silver in 2012 and previously revealed the couple keep fit by singing and dancing together.
He recently showed his staying power on The Masked Singer US, where he wowed audiences with his work as the gnome.
Discussing the key to his energy, Dick told Yahoo, “Gene, I think for one thing. Having a beautiful young woman half my age to take care of me – it works!
‘I got my positive attitude from my wife.’
Looking good: Dick Van Dyke has credited his ‘beautiful young wife’ as key to his youthfulness at the age of 97
He continued, “And another thing is, I’ve written a book called Keep Moving: I still go to the gym and work out three days a week.
“And I advise everyone to do that because that’s what ages people – it’s just a stiffening and not a workout of their muscles and lungs.” Exercise is the answer.’
When the conversation turned to his work on mystery singing competition The Masked Singer, he quipped, “Oh, it was so funny. It was the strangest experience. They have a great crew there and they took good care of me but as soon as I got out of the car they covered my head!
“I never met or saw anyone! I have to go back and meet her in person because no one has ever seen me and I have never seen her. It was strange.’
The legendary entertainer performed a hilarious rendition of Frank Sinatra’s When You’re Smiling on the show, leaving panelist Nicole Scherzinger, 44, in tears as he revealed his identity.
“This is the most experienced and decorated we’ve had on our show, ladies and gentlemen,” said show host Nick Cannon, 42, as Dick revealed his identity.
Nicole openly cried when Nick asked Dick what it was like to be the gnome.
“It was really dark in there… I couldn’t see anything,” said Dick.
Happy couple: The Mary Poppins star married 51-year-old makeup artist Arlene Silver in 2012 and previously revealed the couple keeps fit by singing and dancing together (pictured in 2021)
Dick then performed one last time, treating the audience to a rendition of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from the 1964 film Mary Poppins, during which the entertainer did a little dancing.
Though not a single member of the panel has been able to guess Dick’s identity, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s still able to slow down and groove.
Last year, he showcased his singing and dancing moves in a cute Valentine’s Day video with Arlene performing an upbeat cover of Everybody Loves a Lover, a song by Richard Adler and Robert Allen made popular by Doris Day in 1958.
Despite being in his nineties, Dick has continued to perform in recent years and in 2020 formed a barbershop quartet called The Vantastix, who also appeared in the music video.
Who is this gnome? He recently showed his staying power on The Masked Singer US, where he wowed audiences with his work as the gnome