At 98, Dick Van Dyke Is Making People Laugh and Performing – 75 Years of Show Business & Overcoming Loss

Finding Purpose After Cancer

• “The Dick Van Dyke Show” star is 98, says he surprises himself with his ability to continue performing mere months away from his 99th birthday. He won an Emmy Award a few years removed from losing two long-time partners to cancer.
• Van Dyke lost his first wife, and the mother of his children died after battling pancreatic cancer. Then, a year later, his new lover died of lung cancer.
• Losing a loved one to cancer is an incredibly emotional time that comes with grief. The grieving process comes in stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
• These labels help us frame and identify our feelings; these stages can occur in any order.

Longtime actor Dick Van Dyke, 98, says he’s in amazement of his accomplishments and longevity because, after 75 years in show business, he’s still performing and winning major awards. Recently, Van Dyke, earned an Emmy Award. What adds to the “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” star’s remarkable resilience is his ability to persevere after losing two partners to cancer in recent decades. Van Dyke became a household name in the early 1960s with his famed “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” His career flourished over the next six decades, earning him several awards. After winning an Emmy at the 2024 ceremony, Van Dyke noted how he wants to be remembered. “[I want to be remembered] for laugher; for making people laugh for 75 years. I’ve been in the business for 75 years. I can’t believe that I’m still here and performing,” Van Dyke said while on the red carpet. Throughout his life, amid his success, off-screen, he also dealt with hardship when cancer diagnoses upended his life. His first wife and partner, Margie Willett, of more than 30 years died after bravely battling cancer.  Willett was 80 years old when she died in 2007 stemming from her pancreatic cancer diagnosis. WATCH: Pancreatic cancer and early detection

Recognizing the Silent Disease

Pancreatic cancer begins in the pancreas and is known as the “silent disease.” Symptoms of the disease rarely show up until it has advanced and metastasized (spread) to other parts of the body. Although pancreatic cancer survival rates have been improving, it’s still considered to be largely incurable. An exception to this is if the tumor is still small enough and localized enough to be operated on. The National Cancer Institute identifies pancreatic cancer symptoms to include:

• Dark urine
• Pain in the abdomen
• Unexplained weight loss
• Light-colored stools
• Loss of appetite and fatigue

Treatment options for pancreatic cancer may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. Speaking of his first wife’s death, Van Dyke said , “I lost a part of myself.”

After splitting from Willett, Van Dyke found new love with actress Michelle Triola. However, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, and after battling the disease for 18 months, the Los Angeles Times reports . Triola died of cancer at 75. Lung cancer forms when cancer cells develop in the tissues of the lung. It is the second most common form of cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the U.S., SurvivorNet experts say. It’s “completely asymptomatic,” says thoracic surgeon-in-chief at Temple University Health System Dr. Joseph Friedberg . “It causes no issues until it has spread somewhere. So, if it spreads to the bones, it may cause pain. If it spreads to the brain, it may cause something not subtle, like a seizure,” Dr. Friedberg adds. Scans such as X-rays can help doctors determine if a shadow appears, which can prompt further testing for lung cancer. There are two main types of lung cancer, which doctors group together based on how they act and how they’re treated: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type and makes up about 85% of cases. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is less common, but it tends to grow faster than NSCLC and is treated very differently. While lung cancer often doesn’t present symptoms until it has spread, some people may experience signs like:

• A cough that doesn’t go away, that gets worse, or that brings up bloody phlegm
• Shortness of breath
• Fatigue
• Chest pain
• Hoarse voice
• Appetite loss
• Weight loss

If you are experiencing these kinds of symptoms consistently, contact your doctor for further tests. WATCH: Understanding the treatment options for lung cancer. Treatment options for lung cancer depend on its type, its location, and its staging. In general, treatment methods include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, or a combination of any of these treatments.

Helpful Resources to Better Cope with Grief

• Dealing With Grief Related to Health Problems
• Tools To Navigate Grief And Shame: Dr. Marianna Strongin Addresses These Topics In Her New Column 'Strong In Cancer'
• Mental Health: Coping With Feelings of Anger
• ‘Acknowledging the Grief’ – Losing Your Hair During Chemotherapy

Coping After Loss

Grief looks different from person to person. For Cannon, he channeled some of his feelings through his music. The stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These labels help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. These stages can also occur in any order. The time it takes to navigate these stages can also vary, so it is essential to give yourself grace and patience while navigating your feelings. “It often gets better over time, but on certain days, it can look like depression, and on other days, people look perfectly normal and can function,” Dr. Scott Irwin , a board-certified psychiatrist and Director of Supportive Care Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet. Dr. Irwin added that grieving people are coming to terms with “the change in their life; the future they had imagined is now different.” In a column for SurvivorNet, New York-based clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin wrote that it may be helpful to remind yourself that these feelings are “meaningful yet temporary.” “If you approach them with compassion, kindness, and eventually acceptance, you will come away from this period in your life more connected to your resilience and strength,” she wrote .