Dick Van Dyke on Turning 100: 'You Want to Live More'

Comedy icon Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, hitting the century mark some six decades after he sang and danced with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and starred in his self-titled sitcom. "The funniest thing is, it's not enough," Van Dyke said in an interview with ABC News at his Malibu, California, home, per the AP. "A hundred years is not enough. You want to live more, which I plan to."

• Van Dyke became one of the biggest actors of his era with The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran from 1961 to 1966 on CBS; appeared with Andrews as a chimney sweep with a Cockney accent in the 1964 Disney classic Mary Poppins; and, in his 70s, played a physician-sleuth on Diagnosis: Murder.

• Also a Broadway star, Van Dyke won a Tony Award for Bye Bye Birdie to go with a Grammy and four Primetime Emmys. In 1963, he starred in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie.
• Just last year, he became the oldest winner of a Daytime Emmy, for a guest role on the soap Days of Our Lives. In the 1970s, he found sobriety after battling alcoholism and spoke out about it at a time when that was uncommon to do.
• Now that he's hit triple digits, Van Dyke said he's gotten some perspective on how he used to play older characters. "You know, I played old men a lot, and I always played them as angry and cantankerous," he told ABC. "It's not really that way. I don't know any other 100-year-olds, but I can speak for myself."

• Van Dyke recently imparted wisdom about reaching the century mark in his new book, 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist's Guide to a Happy Life. He credited his wife, 54-year-old makeup artist and producer Arlene Silver, with keeping him young. "She gives me energy. She gives me humor, and all kinds of support," he told ABC.
• Van Dyke was born in West Plains, Missouri, in 1925, and grew up "the class clown" in Danville, Illinois, all while admiring and imitating the silent film comedians. He told ABC he started acting when he was about 4 or 5 years old in a Christmas pageant. He said he was the baby Jesus. "I made some kind of crack; I don't know what I said, but it broke the congregation up," he recalled. "And I liked the sound of that laughter."
• So what's hard about being 100? "I miss movement," he said. "I've got one game leg from I don't know what." He added, with a laugh: "I still try to dance."