Dick Van Dyke Misses Comedy Event, Wife Arlene Says the 99-Year-Old Icon Wasn’t Having a ‘Good Day’

Dick Van Dyke was absent from a recent event due to an undisclosed illness.

On Saturday, June 28, the legendary entertainer canceled his appearance at Vandy Camp at the last minute. His wife, Arlene Silver, appeared onstage at the Arlene & Dick Van Dyke Theater at Malibu High School and announced the news to fans while admitting she was “not the Van Dyke you’re expecting,” according to People.

“I have to inform you that Dick is not up to coming to celebrate with us today. I’m sorry,” she told the crowd. “When you’re 99 and a half years old, you have good days and bad days … and unfortunately, today is not a good day for him, and he’s sick that he can’t be here.”

However, the Bye Bye Birdie actor was well enough to appear on a livestream at the event, and Silver, 53, shared that she was “pretty confident” he would be at the next installment of Vandy Camp “in person.”

According to Instagram, Vandy Camp is an event series for fans featuring Q&A sessions with Van Dyke and Silver, clips from his films, and various performances.

“These Vandy Camp [events] are a wonderful opportunity to have you all in the same room and meet each other,” Silver remarked at the event. “It is a celebration of your childhood, all of our childhoods, the music that’s in the fabric of all of us, [and] Dick Van Dyke is a big part of that.”

Silver also praised the Vantastix — the a capella group she and Van Dyke are part of — for giving her “so much confidence to be able to stand up here right now.”

“I would never be able to do this maybe, like, a year ago, but I’ve had so many experiences pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and right now I’m out of my comfort zone,” she confessed. “But I have to wear my big girl pants and hold the reins without Dick here as the safety net that he’s always here with me.”

After meeting at the SAG Awards in 2006, Silver and the Broadway star tied the knot in 2012.

At a Vandy Camp event in May, Silver shared that Van Dyke had “outlived everybody,” noting, “that’s the curse of living to almost 100,” after he revealed he had been working on a remake of The Odd Couple with his friend Ed Asner before Asner passed away in August 2021.

“Well, life’s been good to me,” Van Dyke responded, according to People. “I can’t complain.”