This Is How Dick Van Dyke Plans to Celebrate His 100th Birthday

Dick Van Dyke plans to spend his 100th birthday keeping his brain sharp.

“He wants to be in his room watching Jeopardy! reruns with me,” his wife, makeup artist Arlene Silver, 54, told People recently, when asked how the star would celebrate turning 100 on Dec. 13.

Silver shared how excited she is that his birthday is a “global celebration of him.”

“I’m so glad he’s still with us,” she said. “I’ve always been celebrating him now, like since 2011 when I got him on social media. It’s like a pinnacle of all that is … all these different people from different events we’ve done, [just] so cool.”

In a book excerpt from his new autobiography, 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life, Van Dyke discusses how magic inspired him to pursue comedy.

“My love of trickery started when I was a little kid and saw a magic show for the first time,” he explains. “Some folks can just enjoy the illusion and leave it at that. But I was in the category of kid who needed to figure out how it was done.”

He goes on: “All these years later, now that I see my bridge from magic to comedy, it’s as bright as the Vegas Strip. In trying at magic, I found my tools and ingredients as a performer. In failing at magic, I landed the role of a lifetime.”

Van Dyke also describes his workout routine, admitting, “I don’t know why it is something I still want to do, but it is.”

The Mary Poppins star says he usually does a circuit at the gym, “going from one machine to the next without a break, in a circle,” starting with the sit-up machine.

​“Arlene says I could do 500 [sit-ups], but that might be exaggerating,” he says. “Then I do all the leg machines religiously, because my legs are two of my most cherished possessions. And then the upper body.”

​In September, actor and musician Rick Springfield, 76, was flexing his muscles at the gym, “filming an episode of Men’s Health,” he posted on Instagram, when he saw Van Dyke “working out on every machine.”

​The “Jessie’s Girl” singer wrote, “Dick has lived in Malibu for about 30 years and is an awesome human being. I thought I was doing well at 76, but Dick got up from the chest press machine and did a little dance step before I left! Amazing!”