After appearing on The Masked Singer, comedy legend Dick Van Dyke continues to build on his recent TV appearances. The Mary Poppins actor will next be seen as a guest-star on Peacock‘s Days of Our Lives, marking his first role in a soap opera.
“I have played old men before,” he told Access Hollywood, “but comedy old men. First time I ever just played my 97-year-old self.”
Van Dyke will play a “mystery man with amnesia” opposite Days stars Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn. The episode will air on Peacock this fall. As Van Dyke told the outlet, the part came about through a jovial conversation at the gym between the 97-year-old and Hogestyn, 69.
“Drake and I went to the same gym together,” he said. “I used to kid him. ‘Say, don’t you ever have any parts for old people? Come on, give me a part!’ And he took me seriously. He got me a part.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VwEcJA4MQE
Prepping for his first soap part meant watching the pros do their thing. “I started watching them. Some of those people have been doing it for 20 years. That’s about all the homework I could do was watch one and see how they did it.”
Longtime pal Carol Burnett sent Van Dyke some sage words of advice gathered from her time guest starring on All My Children. “Make sure you know all your lines because they don’t do retakes,” she said.
“Bless her heart,” Van Dyke said after watching the clip before wishing her a happy birthday (the comedienne turns 90 on April 26 — her birthday special airs the same day at 8/7c on NBC).
Speaking of birthdays, Hogestyn teased Van Dyke’s appearance on the soap opera while wishing him a happy birthday in December.
“Happy 97th Birthday to my workout buddy Dick VanDyke!” he captioned his gym selfie on Instagram. “Can you Imagine if Dick and Bill Hayes worked together on Days? Gotta be a record in there somewhere…97×2!! :)”
Van Dyke was recently seen on The Masked Singer Season 9 when he was revealed as the gnome.
Days of our Lives, Streaming, Peacock