He also earned a bigger and more global international reputation for his role in several successful musicals, including the 1964 Disney movie Mary Poppins, in which he played the role of Bert, a handyman and chimney-sweep alongside Julie Andrews. The British actress was making her film debut.
He also starred in 1968’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Van Dyke and Silver spoke to the magazine at their so-called Vandy Camp, an event held in Malibu to raise money for charity.
“We just love being home. We love Malibu and it’s our favourite place, our house especially. So this is like our, you’re at our house,” Silver said.
“We’re so grateful. Our house did get hit by the Franklin fire, but in the scheme of things we got very lucky.”
The actor also spoke about meeting Silver for the first time, which happened at the 2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards, where she was working as a make-up artist.
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He had been previously married to Margie Willet, but they divorced in 1984, in part because of his affair with another woman, actress Michelle Triola Marvin, that would last several decades. She died from cancer in 2009.
“I never said hello to a strange girl in my life. I was too scared,” Van Dyke said of speaking to Silver. “But I was at a show backstage and she walked by and, for some reason, I just jumped up and said, ‘Hi, I’m Dick.’ There’s something about her that got me, and I was right.”
Now, the couple say their relationship has proven wrong those who doubted the age gap of 46 years could work.
Van Dyke said: “We get along so well,” before Silver said: “We just care about each other so much.”
She added that her husband has made her “feel like she can do anything”.
Telegraph, London
