Boomer TV Trivia: The Dick Van Dyke Show

Q1. The Dick Van Dyke Show won 15 Emmy Awards during it’s 5-year run from 1961 to 1966. How many of them were for the show’s creator and supporting actor Carl Reiner?

Q2. In the 2004 reunion movie The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited, which of the original primary cast members – Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Larry Matthews, Carl Reiner, Morey Amsterdam, and Rose Marie – appeared, 38 years after the original show ended?

Below, Dick Van Dyke, Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie, Larry Mathews, Mary Tyler Moore, Richard Deacon, and Phil Leeds appear in a 1962 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, “Hustling the Hustler“.

Dick Van Dyke played Rob Petrie, husband of Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore) and father of their son Ritchie Petrie (Larry Matthews). Rob was a writer on a New York comedy/variety show, working with co-writers Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam) and Sally Rogers (Rose Marie). The star of the show-within-a-show was Alan Brady (Carl Reiner, in real life The Dick Van Dyke Show series creator, and also a writer and producer on the show).

Johnny Carson was considered for the role of Rob Petrie, but Van Dyke was ultimately chosen. After the series ended, Van Dyke continued to act continuously in movies and on television in both guest and starring roles, including The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971 to 1974) as a TV talk show host…which was not related to the original series. Now an 90+-year-old octogenarian senior citizen, Dick Van Dyke‘s last big-screen movie role was 2014’s Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb; he continues to appear sporadically on television.

(Mary Tyler Moore & Dick Van Dyke 1961 The Dick Van Dyke Show Photo: CBS Television)

Mary Tyler Moore was picked over 50+ other actresses that auditioned to play his wife. After the series ended she also continued acting in movies and television.

Baby boomers will remember her best from her very popular and long-running sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977).

Mary Tyler Moore’s last feature film was 2009’s Against The Current.

She appeared in two episode’s of television’s Hot in Cleveland in 2011/2013 a few years before her death in 2017 from pneumonia complications at the age of 80.

(From left, Morey Amsterdam, Richard Deacon as Mel, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, and Rose Marie 1962 The Dick Van Dyke Show Cast Photo: Rogers & Cowan)

Veteran vaudeville singer and actress Rose Marie had been friends with Danny Thomas (whose wife was also named Rose Marie), who became a producer on The Dick Van Dyke Show, and she was given the role of 2nd writer Sally Rogers without having to audition.

While in talks with the producers, Rose Marie recommended real-life comedic joke writer and actor Morey Amsterdam (then aged 50+) for the role of Buddy Sorrell, the 3rd member of the “show-within-a-show” writing team. When The Dick Van Dyke Show ended, Rose Marie appeared on 2 seasons of the The Doris Day Show (1969-1971).

Baby boomers will remember Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam from their frequent appearances on the TV game show Hollywood Squares.

Rose Marie’s last screen appearances were in 2004 (The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited on TV, and the movie Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes). She died in December 2017 of natural causes, age 94.

Morey Amsterdam appeared on the TV soap opera The Young and the Restless for a while in the 1990’s; he passed away in 1996 at age 87.

(Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, and Larry Mazzeo 1963 The Dick Van Dyke Show Photo: CBS Television)

5-year-old child actor Larry Mazzeo was cast as Ritchie Petrie, and his professional name was changed to Larry Mathews. 

When The Dick Van Dyke Show ended, Larry Mathews left show business and had a “normal” childhood. 

Upon graduating from UCLA in 1976 Larry Mathews worked in business and was involved in various entertainment vehicles in different roles. Little “Ritchie” is a baby boomer himself and is now 60+ years old, almost a senior citizen. 

(Larry Mazzeo / Larry Matthews 1962 The Dick Van Dyke Show)

A1. Carl Reiner won 4 Emmy Awards for his writing for The Dick Van Dyke Show, in seasons 1 through 4. 

Reiner was also a producer on the show; for seasons 2 through 5, The Dick Van Dyke Show, won another 5 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Program Achievement in Comedy, Comedy/Variety, Humour, and Entertainment. 

A2. Series stars Dick Van Dyke (Rob Petrie), Mary Tyler Moore (Laura Petrie), Larry Mathews (their son Ritchie Petrie), Rose Marie (Sally Rogers) all acted on the reunion 2004 reunion show. Morey Amsterdam (“Buddy” Sorrell) had passed away in 1996 but clips of him from the original show were used.

Note: This article was first published in 2015. It has been updated with new & additional content.

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