Dick Van Dyke to receive SAG Life Achievement Award

Seeing Dick Van Dyke give Mary Tyler Moore the Life Achievement Award at last year’s SAG Awards clearly sparked an idea with someone at the Screen Actors Guild. SAG announced early Tuesday that Van Dyke will receive the Guild’s highest honor at the 19th Annual SAG Awards ceremony on Jan. 27, 2013.

“Dick is the consummate entertainer — an enormously talented performer whose work has crossed nearly every major category of entertainment,” SAG-AFTRA Co-President Ken Howard said in a statement. “From his career-changing Broadway turn in ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ and his deadpan humor in the Emmy-winning ‘Dick Van Dyke Show,’ to his unforgettable performance as Bert in ‘Mary Poppins,’ he sets a high bar for actors.”

During more than five decades in show business, Van Dyke, 86, has won five Emmys (three for “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” which featured Moore as his on-screen wife), a Tony Award (“Bye Bye Birdie”) and a Grammy (with Julie Andrews for the “Mary Poppins” soundtrack).

Van Dyke was most recently seen on screen playing the villain in the 2006 Ben Stiller movie “Night at the Museum.” In addition to his eponymous 1960s sitcom, his TV shows included “The New Dick Van Dyke Show” and the long-running “Diagnosis Murder,” which costarred son Barry Van Dyke.

The 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will air live on TNT and TBS on Jan. 27, at 5 p.m. Pacific time.

Van Dyke married makeup artist Arlene Silver in February. The two met six years ago at the 2007 SAG Awards. Their return trip to the show in January should prove eventful. One question remains: Will Moore reciprocate and present Van Dyke his honor?

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