Love has no age. After Dick Van Dyke lost his long-time partner, Michelle Triola Marvin, he found another chance at romance with Arlene Silver.
The Mary Poppins star met his future wife when attending the 13th annual SAG awards in January 2007. Silver was working the awards show as a makeup artist. Upon their first meeting, the former esthetician wasn’t familiar with Van Dyke’s previous projects.
“I remember seeing Dick at the catering table with his bow tie and his big smile. Right when I sat down, he was sitting next to me. He said, ‘Hi, I’m Dick.’ The first thing I asked him was, ‘Weren’t you in Mary Poppins?’ I wasn’t sure,” she confessed to the Huffington Post in October 2013. “I knew who he was but I wasn’t sure why I knew who he was. I was not familiar with all his work. He has so much work I can’t believe I missed it.”
The twosome, who have a 46-year age difference, hit it off and Van Dyke went on to hire her for other projects he was working on at the time. The pair’s connection wouldn’t turn romantic until years later.
When they first met, the Diagnosis: Murder actor was in a relationship with Marvin and the duo lived together for 30 years. In 2009, the Broadway actress died from lung cancer at 76. While grieving the loss of his companion, Silver was by his side and offered her support.
“I spotted her at a SAG Awards some years ago, and she stopped me dead … her beauty and charm. I hired her as a make-up lady,” Van Dyke recalled in a February 2013 interview with the Huffington Post. “That’s what she did. She made me up for a long time, and after my lady died, during the year that I was alone, she would come over after work and either bring me food or cook for me, do my dishes and look after me, so I fell in love pretty hard.”
In February 2012, the couple tied the knot on Leap Day in a private ceremony in Malibu. At the time of their wedding, Van Dyke was 86 and Silver was 40. The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star, for his part, was previously married to Margerie Willett from 1948 to 1976. The duo shared four children: Christian, Barry, Stacy and Carrie Beth. Willet died in 2008.
Despite the couple’s massive age gaps, Van Dyke’s children welcomed Silver into their family with open arms and “fell in love with her immediately” the Mary Poppins Returns actor admitted to the Huffington Post.
Since their wedding, the twosome have shared many sweet moments together including singing and dancing at their Malibu home. In 2021, Silver helped Van Dyke set up a TikTok account where they post videos of the Dick Van Dyke Show alum goofing off. In one clip, the production assistant narrated a video of her husband exercising in their backyard.
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Keep scrolling to see Van Dyke and Silver’s relationship timeline:
