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Dick Van Dyke

Richard Wayne Van Dyke born in West Plains, Missouri, usually credited as Dick Van Dyke, is a noted American television and movie actor. He is most famous for his starring roles on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (with Mary Tyler Moore) in the 1960s and "Diagnosis: Murder" in the 1990s.

Dick Van Dyke's entertainment career began during World War II when he participated in variety shows and worked as an announcer while serving in the military. That career has continued with five decades of work as an actor on network and local television, the stage and in motion pictures. The television work started with his role as host of variety programs in Atlanta, Georgia, and his first foray into network television came in 1956 as the emcee of CBS Television's Cartoon Theater.

But it was his role as Rob Petrie on the classic CBS situation comedy The Dick Van Dyke Show that insured his place in television history. He was cast by series creator Carl Reiner and series producer Sheldon Leonard in the role of a television comedy writer (Reiner himself played in the series pilot Head of the Family). He was selected over another television pioneer, Johnny Carson.

Plucked from a starring role on the Broadway stage in Bye Bye Birdie, Van Dyke used his unique talent for physical comedy, coupled with his ability to sing and dance, to play Robert Simpson Petrie, the head writer of the Alan Brady Show. Complementing Van Dyke was a veteran cast of talented comedic actors including Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Jerry Paris, Carl Reiner (as Alan Brady), as well as a newcomer to television Mary Tyler Moore, who played Rob's wife Laura Petrie.

Van Dyke's first major role was on stage in "Bye Bye, Birdie" in 1960, for which he won a Tony Award. He then starred in his own sitcom, "The Dick Van Dyke Show", which ran for five seasons -- in the lead role of Rob Petrie, Van Dyke won three Emmy Awards. He slowly transitioned out of television into movie acting in "Bye Bye, Birdie" (1963), "What a Way to Go!" (1964) and, most notably, Walt Disney's "Mary Poppins" (1964), in which he played Bert, a Cockney chimney sweep, and also played, in heavy disguise, the elderly owner of the bank. Van Dyke's attempt at a Cockney accent was widely ridiculed (especially in the UK), but the film also showed his versatility as a singer and dancer.

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