Dick Van Dyke on Staying Young, 'Everyone Should Dance, Everyone Should Sing'

Dick Van Dyke has been a valued performer in American entertainment for about fifty years, and while many of his peers are slowing their routines down, Van Dyke seems to have the trick for staying young. The 89-year-old recently divulged some of his secrets through his new book, KEEP MOVING: AND OTHER TIPS AND TRUTHS ABOUT AGING.

"Everyone should dance. And everyone should sing," the Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winner advises in an interview with NPR. "People say, 'Well, I can't sing.' Everybody can sing. That you do it badly is no reason not to sing." He adds that he doesn't have to sing alone, even at home, "I have a beautiful, young wife who sings and dances, so there's a lot of duetting going on at my house."

He also attributes his youthful demeanor to his general outlook on life and natural inclination towards happiness. "It's more in my nature to be optimistic, I think. I'm one of those people who gets up on the right side of the bed in the morning. I get up and have a cup of coffee and go to the gym before I talk myself out of it because I will as anybody will."

As far as looking to the future and the inevitability of death, the performer doesn't let it bother him. "I don't seem to have any fear of [death]. You have to realize that you do have a terminal condition, but I very much live in the present and I really don't worry much about it."

He concludes by emphasizing that contentment and relationships are what are really important in the long run.

"The point is to enjoy. You have to pick what you enjoy doing, what fulfills you, what interests you. And I realize that's not possible for a lot of people. As Thoreau said, a lot of people are living lives of quiet desperation. But almost anyone can find that one immersing hobby or pastime that they love to do ... and someone."

Click here to read the full interview on NPR, and take a listen to the clip below in which Van Dyke sings the theme song to THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW.

Dick Van Dyke is a United States Army Air Corps (WW II) Veteran, actor, comedian, writer, singer, dancer, and producer with a career spanning almost seven decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke and father of Barry Van Dyke.

Van Dyke starred in the films Bye Bye Birdie, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and in the TV series The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis: Murder. He recently starred in Night at the Museum (2006) and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014).

Recipient of five Emmys, a Tony, and a Grammy, Van Dyke was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. He received the Screen Actors Guild's highest honor, the SAG Life Achievement Award, in 2013. Van Dyke has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard and has also been recognized as a Disney Legend.

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