Inside the Lives of “The Dick Van Dyke Show”’s Cast After the Show Ended 60 Years Ago
NEED TO KNOW
The Dick Van Dyke Show premiered on Oct.
3, 1961, and concluded its five-season run on June 1, 1966
Created by Carl Reiner, the sitcom starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore as husband-and-wife duo Rob and Laura Petrie
The series won 15 Emmy Awards over its five seasons on CBS
Since The Dick Van Dyke Show went off the air, the show has remained a touchstone in the history of comedy television.
Airing for five seasons on CBS from Oct.
3, 1961, to June 1, 1966, the hit sitcom followed Rob Petrie, a TV comedy writer played by Dick Van Dyke[1], as he juggled his career and family. Advertisement Advertisement
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The series won 15 Emmy Awards[2] during its successful run. While its premise was simple, it marked the first time a character's home and work lives both got screen time, rather than focusing on one or the other.
The show also marked the breakthrough for Mary Tyler Moore[3], who portrayed Rob's wife, Laura Petrie.
The jokes were impeccably written and smarter than much of the comedy of the time. Seasoned writers contributed to a realistic dynamic that included female writers both on- and off-screen, lively characters and both platonic and romantic relationships that were positive, but not without complications viewers could relate to.
To this day, The Dick Van Dyke Show is lauded as one of the greatest sitcoms of all time.
"We just knew we had something good because we loved to watch it ourselves, but who would've thought 30 years later that it would still be on the air," Van Dyke told Lee Goldberg in January 1998 during an interview with the Television Academy Foundation[4]. Advertisement
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Here's what happened to the cast of The Dick Van Dyke Show after its series finale.
01 of 09
Dick Van Dyke as Rob Petrie
From left: Dick Van Dyke as Rob Petrie on 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' in 1961; Dick Van Dyke attends day 1 of the 76th Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sept.
7, 2024Credit: CBS Photo Archive/Getty; JC Olivera/Variety via Getty
After his eponymous sitcom ended, Van Dyke continued to be a mainstay on-screen.
Some of his biggest movies included Mary Poppins[5] (1964), Divorce American Style (1967), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang[6] (1968) and Dick Tracy[7] (1990).
On TV, the Illinois-raised actor portrayed Dick Preston on The New Dick Van Dyke Show from 1971 to 1974 and appeared on a half-season of The Carol Burnett Show[8] in 1977. He also had several guest spots on shows such as The Golden Girls[9], Matlock, Coach and Scrubs[10].
In the '80s, he took to Broadway in the revival of The Music Man. He also appeared in TV movies before landing his role in Diagnosis: Murder, which ran from 1993 to 2001 and costarred his son Barry Van Dyke[11].
The two also starred on the one-season sitcom The Van Dyke Show in 1988. Advertisement Advertisement
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From the Night at the Museum[12] films to Hallmark's Murder 101 franchise, Van Dyke continued to charm audiences. Most recently, he was an unofficial consultant on Wandavision[13], competed on The Masked Singer[14], had a guest gig on Days of Our Lives[15] and made a 2023 Simpsons[16] cameo.
Van Dyke turned 100[17] in December 2025.
He has four adult children[18]: sons Christian and Barry and daughters Stacy and Carrie Beth -- with late ex-wife Margie Willett[19] -- to whom he was married for 36 years. Van Dyke has been married[20] to wife Arlene Silver[21] since 2012.
02 of 09
Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie
From left: Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie on 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' in 1963; Mary Tyler Moore attends the Broadway Barks!
14 Pet Adoption Event at Shubert Alley in New York City on July 14, 2012Credit: Earl Theisen/Getty; Andy Kropa/Getty
Moore's performance on The Dick Van Dyke Show paved the way not just for TV wives but for Moore herself. She followed up her time on the sitcom with her own eponymous program, The Mary Tyler Moore Show[22], on which she played Mary Richards from 1970 to 1977 and won four Emmys.
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She was also hard at work behind the scenes, creating shows such as The Bob Newhart Show[23], St.
Elsewhere[24] and Hill Street Blues, as well as The Mary Tyler Moore Show spinoffs Rhoda, Phyllis and Lou Grant, through her company MTM Enterprises.
Beyond the small screen, Moore delivered an Oscar[25]-nominated performance in the 1980 family drama Ordinary People[26] and won a Tony Award[27] for Whose Life Is It Anyway? on Broadway.
The New York-born actress continued to appear on TV throughout the '90s and '00s, including guest appearances on The Ellen Show,