The Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star is due to reach the milestone age on December 13, and said he is not bothered about being remembered.
But he said: “But it’s the music, the music we leave behind.
“For as long as children are proudly belting out their new word, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, or singing and skipping along to Chim Chim Cher-ee, the most important part of me will always be alive.”
He told US magazine People he was unsure why he had got to such an old age but said he had always had “a brighter outlook”.
He said: “I’ve always thought that anger is one thing that eats up a person’s insides – and hate.
“And I never really was able to work up a feeling of hate. I think that is one of the chief things that kept me going.
“There were things I didn’t like, people I don’t like and disapprove of. But I never really was able to do a white heat kind of hate.”
Van Dyke, who released a new book – 100 Rules For Living To 100 – this month, appeared in a Coldplay music video last year.