Dick Van Dyke, 98, Reveals His 'Secret Weapon' to Living a Long Life

Dick Van Dyke continues to get better with age!

The Hollywood icon, 98, recently nabbed a historic win at the 2024 Daytime Emmy Awards for being the oldest actor to take home a golden statue for Guest Performance in a Drama Series category for his role as Mystery Man/Timothy Robicheaux on Days of Our Lives.

With his career still thriving, Van Dyke revealed exactly how he's been able to keep himself youthful, and it's been going to the gym three days a week. "Yes, I do. For being this long-lived, I really do," he confirmed of his fitness routine in a recent interview. "And I recommend it to everybody. That's my secret weapon."

Regarding his recent achievement, the Bye Bye Birdie actor added, "Am I really the oldest? I didn't know I was the oldest."

"I'll be darn. I think I'm the last of my generation, really. I'm 98. I have almost all my marbles. I can't remember what I had for breakfast," Van Dyke said.

During the Friday, June 7, ceremony, the Matlock alum stood in front of a crowd of his fellow actors to express his gratitude for the honor. "I don't believe this. I feel like a spy from nighttime television," he gushed.

"I'm the oldest nominee in history. I can't believe it. I have been playing old men all my life. If I had known, I would live this long I would have taken care of myself," Van Dyke jokingly quipped.

The funny man recently reflected on his decades in the business and how lucky he got with the projects he worked on. "As a businessman, I’m not much good. I would do a movie and come home, and just sit down and wait for the phone to ring," he confessed in a 2023 interview. "I wasn’t aggressive. I was out of work a lot because I didn’t go out and look for it."

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"If I'm not enjoying myself, I’m really bad," he noted of how selective he was when it came to choosing work. "It’s such a blessing to find a way of making a living that you love that you’d do for nothing. I feel so sorry for people who hate their jobs. I look forward to going to work every morning."

Van Dyke also got candid about his past struggle with addiction. "Had I known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself," the star emphasized. "Yeah, because I went through that whole period of alcoholism."

Entertainment Tonight conducted the interview with Van Dyke.