Dick Van Dyke, healthy and fit at 99

Dick Van Dyke's touching new Coldplay music video "All My Love," produced for the celebration of his 99th birthday, is a beautiful and inspiring tribute to life and love! Starring Dick Van Dyke -- healthy and fit at 99 -- and family, and directed by Spike Jonze and Mary Wigmore, Van Dyke dances and sings and reflects on his long life.

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Dick Van Dyke was mentioned this week in a TV news segment about the fast-moving forest fire along Malibu Canyon Road near Los Angeles. Some of the residents had to evacuate and among them was Dick Van Dyke, whose 99th birthday is Friday December 13th. My ears perked up. Hadn’t heard his name in a long time.

I enjoyed the Dick Van Dyke show in the early 1960s and then later in the New Dick Van Dyke show in the 1970s. He was a household name and a popular actor, entertainer and comedian. He was in movies and Broadway plays and won all kinds of important awards. I loved his dancing and humor, a funny guy. He was always positive and happy.

So the news that Dick Van Dyke was around, healthy and active and soon to be 99 got my attention and I started to read about him. I was surprised to learn he has been exercising actively all his life and believes it is the “secret” to a long life. He went on to reveal his secrets to staying fit at 98 in an interview with a reporter from E! ONLINE.

He makes sure he goes to the gym at least three days a week. In the interview he talked about his exercise routine and staying “young minded forever.” “I’ve always exercised,” he said. He went on to say his friends don’t follow his lead when it came to working out. “And I think that’s why I have no friends left. They’re all dead.”

This is more from the interview: “And Van Dyke expressed that it’s especially crucial to keep the momentum going when aging.” “As people get older, he explained, “they get a little stiff and sore, and it begins to hurt to move. So, they just stop moving all together, and you start to age fast. I’ve always exercised three days a week,” he continued. “I work out with weights and the treadmill also and try to keep that up. You can’t stay young forever. You can stay young minded forever. That’s why I never grew up.”

He made a touching new Coldplay music video, "All My Love," where he dances and sings and reflects on his long life. Not afraid to tackle the deep stuff, in the video he talks about what love is, what he thinks about old age and death, and how lucky he has been.

A beautiful and inspiring tribute to life and love!

Dick Van Dyke and his wife Arlene Silver dancing in Coldplay's new music video in celebration of Van Dyke's 99th birthday -- a touching tribute to life and love!