My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke (Review)

Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Crown Publishing
Released: January 1, 2011
287 pages

About the Book:

Dick Van Dyke, indisputably one of the greats of the golden age of television, is admired and beloved by audiences the world over for his beaming smile, his physical dexterity, his impeccable comic timing, his ridiculous stunts, and his unforgettable screen roles.
           
His trailblazing television program, The Dick Van Dyke Show (produced by Carl Reiner, who has written the foreword to this memoir), was one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1960s and introduced another major television star, Mary Tyler Moore. But Dick Van Dyke was also an enormously engaging movie star whose films, including Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, have been discovered by a new generation of fans and are as beloved today as they were when they first appeared. Who doesn’t know the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?

 

My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved listening to Dick Van Dyke tell his story in his own voice. I knew of Dick from Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Diagnosis Murder but didn't really know about him outside of these popular characters he has played. I enjoyed getting to know his background and some behind the scenes stuff from shows I've watched a lot over the year. I respect that he made a decision to stick with family friendly shows. He was honest about struggles he dealt with over the years. I did find at various times he seemed to gloss over some things and noticed that he liked to drop the names of the cars he drove. Maybe that's a guy thing, but if felt like he was showing off on what he drove. He also drops a lot of names of those he was worked with over the years and while I recognized some there were a lot that didn't mean a thing to me. I like how he has tried to stay active and make people laugh with clean jokes and physical comedy. The thing I enjoyed the most about this book was listening to his voice. I'm so glad I listened to the audiobook, if I had read it physically I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. 

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed 

in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)