A heartbreaking death. The onset of severe health problems. The surprising
other choice for the lead. Here's a behind the scenes look at The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Despite the title, The Dick Van Dyke Show actually didn't begin with Dick Van Dyke
himself. Instead, it was originally the brainchild of Carl Reiner. Specifically,
his time as a writer and performer on the NBC variety program Your Show of Shows served as
the inspiration for this new sitcom. The name of the show was originally set to be Head of
the Family, with a focus on main character Rob Petrie's home life as a family man and
his work life as a TV variety show writer. And Reiner was initially set to play Rob.
Producer Sheldon Leonard loved the idea, but he was less enthusiastic about Reiner in the
lead role. So even though Reiner didn't end up as the star, he remained on as the show's
head writer and creator, and he also appeared on screen as Rob Petrie's boss, Alan Brady.
During the network's search for their Rob Petrie, future Tonight Show host Johnny Carson was among
those under serious consideration. In fact, as recounted by Parade, he and Dick Van Dyke were
the last two finalists for the part. In the end, Van Dyke won the role thanks to his significant
name recognition coming off a successful Broadway run in the musical Bye, Bye, Birdie.
"You go through them, you say, will it work? Might work. It doesn't work, big deal."
Everybody who's ever watched an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show surely remembers that
opening theme song. And they also naturally can't forget the opening
sequence of Rob arriving home from work and toppling over an ill-placed
ottoman. But you might be surprised to learn that the theme tune also has lyrics.
As recounted by Parade, the lyrics were written by one of the show's stars,
Morey Amsterdam, who played Buddy Sorrell, one of the writers on the show within the
show. In a 2010 interview with NPR, Van Dyke revealed the actual lyrics,
which had been a mystery for some time. And then in 2013, he actually sang the full theme song
for MeTV in a special music video. Although Amsterdam's lyrics didn't end up being used,
that didn't stop the theme from becoming one of the most memorable in TV history.
Danny Thomas was a major star and TV host in the 1950s and 60s. He had his very own hit sitcom,
The Danny Thomas Show, also known as Make Room For Daddy for its first three seasons.
Dick Van Dyke star Mary Tyler Moore had even auditioned to play Thomas'
daughter on his show. He thought that she was definitely talented but didn't think
she had quite the right look to play his daughter. He even reportedly said,
"No one would believe a girl with a little button nose like hers could be a daughter of mine."
But Thomas remembered Moore years later, when he served as a producer for The Dick Van Dyke Show
and personally recommended her for the part of Rob Petrie's wife Laura. In addition to serving
as a producer, Thomas also guest-starred on one of the show's most memorable episodes,
Season 2's "It May Look Like A Walnut." The plot features Rob and Laura getting spooked
while watching a sci-fi horror movie. Then they both have a nightmare featuring Thomas as an evil
alien leader trying to conquer Earth by turning humans into aliens with mysterious walnuts.
"I dreamt that Danny Thomas was chasing me and throwing walnuts at me,
and every place he'd hit me, I'd lose a thumb and grow an eye."
The role of Laura Petrie was originally intended to be more of a side character.
The real female lead was supposed to be Sally Rogers, Rob's co-worker on the Alan
Brady Show who was played by Rose Marie. Marie was a former child singing star who
had been in showbiz for more than 30 years by that point. So The Dick Van Dyke Show
was supposed to be a perfect opportunity for her to showcase her comic and singing chops.
But things changed when Mary Tyler Moore was cast as Laura. She was young and charming,
and audiences loved her, so she ended up with more screen time than Marie.
This reportedly led to some conflict between a resentful Marie and Carl Reiner. Nevertheless,
audiences still adored Marie's character, and she would go on to always be proud of her work on the
show. As she admitted during an interview with The Archive of American Television,
"The chemistry of that group is what made that show. It was a good show and cleverly done. It
was brilliant. I enjoyed going to work every day. I didn't know it would be a classic."
For a TV show from the 1960s, The Dick Van Dyke Show was fairly progressive in its
portrayal of its female characters. Sally, for example, was a professional working woman. She
wasn't completely immune from stereotypes of the time, as she served as the office typist
and was portrayed as man-hungry, but she still held down a vital creative job of her own. And
Rose Marie was happy to bring her to life. During a reunion show in 2004, she recalled,
"I've had young girls come up to me and say, 'It was because of you I became a writer.'"
And even though Mary Tyler Moore was playing a housewife, she had her own ideas on how
people should see Laura Petrie. Moore was determined to portray her realistically:
she wasn't going to be a June Cleaver-type vacuuming the house in high heels and pearls.
A young mother herself, Moore insisted that her wardrobe needed to be comfortable and practical,
forgoing fancy dresses in favor of capri pants and flat shoes.
"Well, why don't you turn me over to the FBI?"
The Dick Van Dyke Show ultimately lasted for five seasons, although it was nearly canceled
after just one. It was unlike most sitcoms on the air at the time: witty, sophisticated,
and a little controversial, so the ratings were disappointing after that inaugural year.
CBS was ready to pull the plug on the show until advertiser Procter & Gamble intervened.
The company's executives were huge fans of the show and threatened to yank all
their advertising from the daytime lineup if CBS dared cancel Dick Van Dyke. So the
network relented and gave the show a new time slot, where the ratings got a massive boost.
And the show could've lasted longer than it did if the cast had agreed
to it. But everyone was in agreement that it should end after season five
while they were all at the height of their popularity.
The Dick Van Dyke Show wasn't exactly a racially diverse show, although it did
manage to be somewhat progressive, at least for its time. For example,
in the Season 3 premiere, "That's My Boy??", Rob and Laura tell the story of when they
first brought their son Ritchie home from the hospital. After a series of misunderstandings,
they start to worry that they ended up with the wrong baby. So they reach out to the only other
couple who had a boy born at the hospital on the same day. When they meet that family,
they turn out to be African-American, thereby relieving everyone's worst fears.
Nowadays, this twist might not seem like much. But by 1960s standards,
it was actually somewhat shocking for white audiences to see an ordinary, professional
upper-middle-class Black couple on a primarily white show. The story concludes with Rob and
Laura stating that the two boys are now in school together, with the other son getting straight As
and their own son decidedly mediocre. While this was ultimately a very minor portrayal of
African-Americans in the grand scheme of things, it still stands out in the course of TV history.
"I still think we got the wrong kid."
Dick Van Dyke has always been an enthusiastic and passionate performer, but behind the scenes,
he was harboring a dark secret in the form of an alcohol addiction. In a 2016 interview
with Oprah Winfrey, the actor admitted that he was quite anxious around others,
and alcohol was his only stress reliever. As he put it,
"I was very shy — with strangers — I couldn't talk to people. And I found if I had a drink,
it would loosen me up. The barriers went down, and I became very social. That's what got me started."
Van Dyke didn't seek help with his struggle until he checked himself into rehab in 1972. His first
wife, Margie Willett, was suffering from an addiction to prescription drugs herself and
sought treatment at the same hospital. Their marriage couldn't survive their respective
troubles or Van Dyke's hectic career, and they eventually separated and then divorced in 1984.
In his later years, Van Dyke has been much more open about his past struggles. It was
an incredibly long and difficult road for him to fully overcome his addiction, but
he's proud that his story has helped and inspired so many others. As he admitted to Oprah Winfrey,
"I get a lot of letters from people, who say all of a sudden they weren't ashamed
to admit they had a drinking problem and they got help. So I'm very proud of that."
Behind Mary Tyler Moore's vivacious performance as Laura Petrie was the onset of some severe future
health problems. She suffered from such symptoms as dizziness, weight loss, and blurred vision. She
thought this was all due to stress and overwork, so she mostly ignored them. But then in 1970,
when she was 33, she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. In a 2006 interview with MedlinePlus,
the actress admitted that she was absolutely stunned by the diagnosis. As she put it,
"I was, after all, a very healthy and active adult,
and I didn't ever expect something like that to happen to me."
Moore didn't allow her diabetes to prevent her from having a long and successful career. In
addition to her acting, she became the face of diabetes advocacy and research, helping to
raise millions of dollars for research funding. Diabetes was once considered a death sentence,
but Moore was able to advocate for new technological developments and treatments
and thereby demonstrate that those diagnosed with the disease can lead happy and fulfilling lives.
"You know, it's part of your routine."
Unlike her perpetually single character, Rose Marie was happily married for years to trumpet
player Bobby Guy. They had one daughter together, named Georgiana. But sadly,
Guy died of a mysterious blood disease in 1964 at the age of 48.
Marie was reportedly so devastated by the loss of her husband that she almost quit
The Dick Van Dyke Show. But one of the sitcom's directors, John Rich,
intervened and convinced her not to leave. Years later, Marie detailed in a book how
kind and sympathetic everyone on the show was to her after her husband's death. As she recalled,
"Everybody was so marvelous. If there were things in the script they thought might upset me,
they'd write it out. They were the best in the world. They were family."
When The Dick Van Dyke Show ended its run in 1966, it went out on a high note. Dick Van
Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore were both enjoying incredible popularity, and they were destined
for even greater stardom. Van Dyke went on to star in the movie adaptation of Bye, Bye Birdie,
and he would also go on to star in several more TV shows and movies over the years,
such as Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Diagnosis: Murder.
As for Moore, she went on to star in several movies before returning to the small screen.
This time around, though, instead of playing a homemaker, she was the titular star,
as she played a single, independent career woman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. During her Dick
Van Dyke days, she proved herself by holding her own alongside show business vets like Van Dyke,
Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, and Carl Reiner. After that experience,
she was more than capable of playing the lead, and she absolutely knocked it out of the park.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show lasted for seven seasons and has endured as one of the most
iconic sitcoms of all time. Clearly, the legacy of The Dick Van Dyke Show is impossible to ignore.