The Precious Career Memento Dick Van Dyke Grabs 'Whenever There's a Fire' (Exclusive)
- - The Precious Career Memento Dick Van Dyke Grabs 'Whenever There's a Fire' (Exclusive)
Virginia Chamlee, Abby SternFebruary 11, 2026 at 8:00 AM
0
Dick Van Dyke
Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty
Dick Van Dyke's wife Arlene Silver is opening up about some of his favorite career mementos
Speaking to PEOPLE, she says that there are leather-bound encylopedia-like scrapbooks that are close to the actor's heart
"Whenever there's a fire that is the first thing we take," she says
Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke has a prolific career filled with plenty of mementos — but there's one thing the actor always grabs when wildfires threaten his California home.
Van Dyke’s wife, Arlene Silver, tells PEOPLE that among her husband's "favorite" mementos are "these leather bound books that he has."
"Frank Adamo, who was his dresser and an assistant, and he pops up in the Dick Van Dyke Show a lot — he made him these kind of Encyclopedia Britannica leather bound books of his career in the '60s [filled with] pictures, scripts. And whenever there's a fire that is the first thing we take," she adds.
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Dick Van Dyke
CBS via Getty
Silver, 54, says she often stumbles upon other fun Van Dyke-themed props and mementos when online shopping.
"I found this clown painting of him online that's kind of my one of my favorites," she says. "It's this artist that was drawing clowns. I can't remember the artist's name, but I found it online and it was — it's this beautiful painting of him as a clown. Dick as a clown."
The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!
The actor celebrated his 100th birthday on Dec. 13, 2025, telling PEOPLE ahead of his big day: “I feel really good for 100. Sometimes I have more energy than others — but I never wake up in a bad mood.”
"People say ‘What did you do right?’" he continued. "I don’t know. I’m rather lazy. I’ve always thought that anger is one thing that eats up a person’s insides — and hate. And I never really was able to work up a feeling of hate. I think that is one of the chief things that kept me going.”
After starting out in radio and on Broadway, Van Dyke landed on Carl Reiner's The Dick Van Dyke Show beginning in 1961, starring alongside Mary Tyler Moore as his wife. From there, he joined Julie Andrews, Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber in Walt Disney Pictures' Mary Poppins in 1964.
After that came a string of film roles including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Dick Tracy, plus a plethora of TV parts, including two attempted Dick Van Dyke Show reboots.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
