Days of our Lives alum Dick Van Dyke credits optimism — and his wife — for keeping him young at 100

Days of our Lives alum Dick Van Dyke is nearing 100, and the part that seems to delight him most is that he’s still here to joke about it. He’s full of gratitude, shaped by a lifetime of pratfalls, music, and a stubborn refusal to wake up in a bad mood. And the way he recently explained his longevity might be the most Dick Van Dyke thing he’s ever said — plainspoken, warm, and a little bit funny.

How a Days of our Lives favorite built a century on positivity

Van Dyke’s optimism isn’t something he cultivated late in life — it’s a framework that seems to have been stamped on him since childhood. He grew up during the leanest years of the Great Depression, but never clung to the bitterness that stuck to so many people from that era; he picked up a knack for pratfalls on the sidewalk and somehow turned it into a career. When people press him on what he “did right,” he reacts like the question doesn’t quite land. He says he’s never been wired to hold on to real anger, and maybe that’s what kept him going long after others burned out.

And when talk turns to mortality, there’s no fear. “When you expire, you expire,” he told People. It’s said without drama, just a simple acknowledgment from someone who feels lucky to have lived a life large enough to fill a book — which he did, in “100 Rules for Living to 100,” drawing lessons from the moments that stuck with him. (Find out how the legendary comedian made Daytime Emmy history.)

The love that keeps him young

If optimism built the foundation, Van Dyke’s wife, Arlene, is the engine that keeps him moving. He credits her with keeping him present — coaxing him into a song, a dance, a laugh, anything that keeps the room light. “She kept me happy every day,” he said. She’s the one who grabs his arm when he wobbles, spots the mood slipping before he does, and somehow makes the everyday stuff — getting upright, shuffling from room to room, deciding what the afternoon’s going to be — feel a lot less heavy than it should for someone staring down a hundred.

More than a decade in, the two of them move through life with an ease that feels earned. Their days aren’t rushed — they meander in that comfortable way long partnerships do. Arlene’s usually the one who tosses a little fun into the room, and he answers with that crooked smile that’s just for her. Most of what they are now lives in the small stuff — a song playing somewhere in the house, a photo propped up in a spot it probably doesn’t belong, the kind of easy warmth that remembers the years but doesn’t bow to them.

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The former Timothy on Days of our Lives explained that his rationale is, “When you expire, you expire," adding, "I don’t have any fear of death for some reason. I can’t explain that, but I don’t. I’ve had such a wonderfully full and exciting life. That I can’t complain.” And for the woman who keeps him going every day, who keeps putting a smile on his face, he stated simply, “I'm just lucky." (Was Van Dyke offered the role of Willy Wonka?)

Days of our Lives is available on the Peacock streaming app.

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