DICK VAN DYKE: My Favorite HOLLYWOOD MEMORIES

THE BELOVED 97-YEAR-OLD PERFORMER LOOKS BACK ON HIS LONG, ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER

- LOUISE A. BARILE

In 1964's musical Mary Poppins, a cheerfully soot-covered Dick Van Dyke glides across a London set as Bert the chimney sweep singing "Chim Chim Cher-ee" with pure glee. Later, he's barely recognizable in the role of . crusty banker Mr. Dawes Sr. "I had to go to Walt [Disney] and beg him to let me do it. So he made me do a screen test," recalls Dick of playing the surprise second role in the film. "I got the part - and I didn't even charge him extra! It was such fun."

With a remarkable career that has spanned seven decades, Dick, 97, has a lot to look back on. "I didn't know I was going to be an entertainer. I thought I was going to starve," says the Illinois-reared star, who began performing in high school. His service during WWII as an Army radio announcer eventually led to Broadway, television's The Dick Van Dyke Show and starring roles in two of the world's most beloved family-friendly musicals, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. "I'm getting a lot of letters from kids who have just discovered those old movies," he says. "I know that I'll be remembered more for Bert than anything. I'm happy about it."