Dick Van Dyke Receives Lifetime Achievement Award At 19th Annual SAG Awards

87-year-old actor Dick Van Dyke, best known for his 1960s comedy “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” was honored with the lifetime achievement award at the 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday.

Dyke went on to star in a number of movies such as Mary Poppins which further cemented his legacy as a star in Hollywood. “I’ve knocked around in this business for 70 years and I still haven’t quite figured out exactly what it is I do,” Van Dyke said after accepting his trophy from presenter Alec Baldwin.

“The years have been full of surprises for me and a lot of fun. Aren’t we lucky to have found a line of work that doesn’t require growing up?”

Van Dyke has been in show business for about 80 years, starting as a DJ and a stand up comedian in the 1940s. He even held a job as a morning-show host, and had the legendary Walter Cronkite as his news anchor. Van Dyke praised the room full of actors for their commitment to the art during his acceptance speech.

“I’m looking at the greatest generation of actors in the history of acting. You’ve all lifted the art to another place now,” he said. “Besides that you’re everywhere. You’re in Darfur, Somalia, Haiti. You’re all over the place trying to do what’s right.”

“This very heavy object here means that I can refer to you as my peers. I’m a happy man, God bless.”

I.M.