Dick Van Dyke shares exercise routine that keeps him fit at 95: 'I'm still dancing and singing'


Emma Day
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A Spoonful of Sugar might have helped the medicine go down for Julie Andrews's Mary Poppins, but her co-star has found another way to keep ills at bay.

Dick Van Dyke, 95, has shared a glimpse at his impressive fitness routine, as he revealed he plans to make it to his 100th birthday.

The actor, singer and dancer, who is known for playing the chimney sweep Bert in 1964's Mary Poppins, said he works out every day in a new interview.

"A lot of my friends won't do these," the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star told CBS while he performed sit-ups and leg circles for a video.

"So all you old guys out there, listen to me. I'm telling you, you can keep going ... I'm still dancing and singing."

Van Dyke, who also helmed his own sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, vowed he would mark his centenary in 2025.

"I'm looking forward to 100," the Tony and Grammy Award winner said, following the lead of a fellow actor and comedian. "George Burns made it, and I'm going to do it, too."

Burns died in 1996 about a month after entering his tenth decade.

Van Dyke, who was awarded the Kennedy Centre Honours in May, also revealed that he has not slowed down on screen, either.

The actor appeared in the 2018 sequel Mary Poppins Returns, alongside Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, where he performed a dance on a desk to Trip a Little Light Fantastic.

Van Dyke said he was offered three levels of choreography for the routine, and plumped for the most difficult.

"I had to prove I could do it," he told CBS. "I was 91, I think."

The actor will next appear in the comedy Capture the Flag, according to IMDb. The film, about a group of veterans who play a spirited game every morning in their community, is in pre-production, the online database reports.

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Key findings of Jenkins report
  • Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
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