A happy today to Dick Van Dyke who's 93 today — which in Dick Van Dyke Years, means he looks and moves about like he's 77. Has anyone else ever been as fine an actor as this man? Or as beloved? I hope he and his lovely Arlene are out celebrating all day and all night. And this may be an unrealistic fantasy but I'm kinda hoping they have something else soon to celebrate.
In 1988, Judi Dench won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress in 1998 for her role as Queen Elisabeth in Shakespeare In Love. She was on the screen for eight minutes. The runner-up for the least amount of camera time for an Oscar winner was in 1976 when Beatrice Straight won in the same category for Network. Her entire part was ten minutes. See where I'm going with this?
I didn't clock how long Dick was on screen in Mary Poppins Returns. I'm guessing about five, maybe a bit less. But I can't recall an actor making such an impact to a movie…and I can't imagine anyone else in that part having that impact. It was a moment that moviegoers will not forget.
Maybe that's a silly dream on my part. Maybe Disney plans to push Lin-Manual Miranda as Best Supporting Actor because — and this is often what they consider in these situations — they feel the competition for Best Actor will be too formidable (Bradley Cooper, Viggo Mortensen, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carrell, Robert Redford, Ethan Hawke, Joaquin Phoenix, et al). But maybe there's also a shot for Dick to take home a Special Award.
And yeah, I know he doesn't need one. The world has already given him that far-better award of unconditional love. Still, it would be nice, wouldn't it?