In a move that confirms the mad affection so many have for Dick Van Dyke, the Screen Actors Guild has decided to give its Life Achievement Award to Van Dyke at the Jan. 27 SAG Awards. On Tuesday, SAG announced that Carl Reiner and Alec Baldwin will present the award to Van Dyke during the televised ceremony.
It'll be a familiar event for Van Dyke. Last year, his "Dick Van Dyke Show" wife, Mary Tyler Moore, was given the honor, with Van Dyke presenting the statue.
Van Dyke's most notable television role just might be on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," which Reiner helped create and co-produced. Before taking on the role of Rob Petrie in 1961, Van Dyke had a prominent Broadway career that included a starring role in the 1959 Broadway production of "Bye Bye Birdie," for which he won a Tony award.
Other career highlights include his role as Bert the chimney sweep in "Mary Poppins," the starring role in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," and memorable appearances on "The Carol Burnett Show." More recently Van Dyke, has appeared on the big screen in "Night at the Museum," and starred in "Diagnosis: Murder."
Van Dyke was chosen for the award not just for his work in the arts, but also for his devotion to humanitarian causes. For 20 years he's been a supporter of Los Angeles shelter The Midnight Mission, and he's also been a dedicated fundraiser for National Reye's Syndrome Foundation after losing a granddaughter to that disease.
The SAG awards will air live, coast-to-coast, at 8 p.m. ET on Jan. 27 on TNT and TBS.
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