{"id":291785,"date":"2025-11-18T21:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T21:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291785\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T21:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T21:04:07","slug":"dick-van-dyke-reveals-he-turned-down-james-bond-role-cary-grant-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291785\/","title":{"rendered":"Dick Van Dyke reveals he turned down James Bond role, Cary Grant movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"play\"<\/p>\n

Dick Van Dyke celebrates 100 years with humor<\/p>\n

Dick Van Dyke turns 100 this December with a new book, a theater tribute and his signature humor.<\/p>\n

The name is Bond<\/a> \u2013 Dick Van Bond?<\/p>\n

Emmy-winning actor Dick Van Dyke<\/a> got nostalgic on his illustrious career during an interview on the “Today” show aired Tuesday, Nov. 18.<\/p>\n

“I’m speaking from an advantageous position. I got to do for a living what I would have done for nothing,” Van Dyke, 99, told host Al Roker<\/a>. “If I had been sitting at a desk somewhere in a cubicle, I might not be so happy.”<\/p>\n

But Van Dyke, known for his career-defining roles in the musicals “Mary Poppins”<\/a> and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and his eponymous “Dick Van Dyke Show,” also reminisced on what could have been.<\/p>\n

The actor revealed he was approached for the role of suave action-hero James Bond<\/a> following Sean Connery’s<\/a> departure from the franchise. Connery, who died in 2020, originated the Ian Fleming<\/a>-penned character on screen in 1962’s “Dr. No.”<\/p>\n

“They said, ‘Would you like to be Bond?’ And I said, ‘Have you heard my British accent?'” Van Dyke recalled, adding that he was skeptical that viewers would have “accepted” the change in genre from him.<\/p>\n

After five films, Connery was succeeded by George Lazenby<\/a> in 1969’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” Looking back, Van Dyke said playing Bond would have been “a great experience.”<\/p>\n

Dick Van Dyke also turned down Cary Grant movie<\/p>\n

007 wasn’t the only role Van Dyke has Hollywood regrets about.<\/p>\n

During his “Today” show interview, the actor shared that he also turned down doing a movie with Oscar-nominated actor Cary Grant.<\/p>\n

Van Dyke said Grant, whom he reportedly met during a Broadway stint on the show “Bye Bye Birdie,”<\/a> proposed the idea while hanging out in Van Dyke’s dressing room one day. The actor didn’t detail his reasoning for passing on Grant’s offer.<\/p>\n

“I regret that every day of my life,” Van Dyke said. “I turned Cary Grant down. I don’t believe it.”<\/p>\n

Dick Van Dyke opens up: Actor says he’s frustrated to ‘feel diminished’ ahead of 100th birthday<\/a><\/p>\n

Dick Van Dyke reveals his surprising dream role<\/p>\n

Even as Van Dyke nears his centenarian years<\/a>, he still has a bucket list for his creative life.<\/p>\n

“I always wanted to play Scrooge,” said Van Dyke on the “Today” show, referring to holiday icon Ebenezer Scrooge from the Charles Dickens<\/a> novel “A Christmas Carol.”<\/a><\/p>\n

‘It’d be funny if I didn’t make it’: Dick Van Dyke jokes about 100th birthday<\/a><\/p>\n

Scrooge, known for his cold demeanor and hatred of Christmas, has been portrayed on TV and film by actors such as Seymour Hicks, Jim Carrey<\/a>, Christopher Plummer<\/a>, Kelsey Grammer<\/a> and Will Ferrell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I could do it,” Van Dyke said, laughing. “It’s just November. I’ve still got time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dick Van Dyke celebrates 100 years with humor Dick Van Dyke turns 100 this December with a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[4443,131821,4799,47258,47256,1338,10381,131822,76,44318,49,48,131818,131817,131820,361,1346,10446,5864,81380,121736,131816,75,1336,26638,26642,20610,20352,25926,10400,11535,3008,15473,1337,1348,1327,1342,14830,36990,337,44051,2034,44,3285,1333,44056,2042,1463,3496,3498,131819,3495,1320,26639,1462,696,1484,39,348,3501,1335,8415],"class_list":["post-291785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-a","tag-a-christmas-carol","tag-action","tag-action-u0026-adventure-films","tag-adventure","tag-affiliate","tag-al","tag-al-roker","tag-arts","tag-bond","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carol","tag-cary","tag-cary-grant","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","tag-christmas","tag-comedy","tag-dick","tag-dick-van-dyke","tag-dyke","tag-entertainment","tag-films","tag-gossip","tag-gossip-u0026-tabloid-news","tag-grant","tag-james","tag-james-bond","tag-life","tag-life-now","tag-live","tag-live-comedy","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-modular","tag-modular-story","tag-movie","tag-movie-reference","tag-movies","tag-negative","tag-neutral","tag-news","tag-now","tag-overall","tag-overall-negative","tag-overall-neutral","tag-point","tag-programs","tag-reference","tag-roker","tag-shows","tag-story","tag-tabloid","tag-the","tag-to","tag-to-the-point","tag-top-stories","tag-tv","tag-tv-shows-u0026-programs","tag-u0026","tag-van"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}