Latest news with #CommunityBrigade
Daily Mail
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Dick Van Dyke, 99, makes rare remark on his and wife Arlene's 46-year age gap
Beloved actor, singer and dancer, Dick Van Dyke, shared some rare insight into his relationship with wife Arlene Silver. While reflecting on their 13-year marriage, the Hollywood legend, 99, gushed to People that he and his spouse, 53, 'get along so well.' 'Everybody said it wouldn't work,' Van Dyke recalled, before Silver chimed in to say. 'Yeah, I mean it's like eerie how well it works. People the same age don't last.' She also raved that they 'just care about each other so much' and are 'very supportive of each other.' 'He's made me feel like I can do anything,' she said. Van Dyke noted that they both 'just love being home' and described Malibu as their 'favorite place.' 'We're so grateful. Our house did get hit by the Franklin fire, but in the scheme of things, we got very lucky,' he said at Dick & Arlene Van Dyke Present Vandy Camp. On Sunday, the couple hosted the second 'Vandy Camp' to aid fire relief in Malibu. During the fundraiser, Van Dyke took to the stage in front of a sold out crowd with his wife Arlene and his a cappella band, The Vantastix. The group sang songs, answered audience questions and shared memories of the 99-year-old's life and career. Ticket proceeds benefitted the Community Brigade and CA Wildlife relief - as efforts to rebuild continue after the devastating fires in Los Angeles earlier this year. For the occasion, he sported a 'Spoonful of Sugar' sweater and opened the show singing about senility and joking about how he struggled to remember things. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight last year, Van Dyke recalled his first encounter with Silver. 'I never approached a strange woman in my life,' the legendary Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star said. 'And she walked by and I jumped and I said, "Hi, I'm Dick." I had no idea she was half my age. Beautiful.' The Dick Van Dyke show actor said he later found out Arlene was a makeup artist. 'She had one [business] card left, which I took and hired her,' he added. 'I had never seen the Dick Van Dyke Show, I never saw anything he was in,' Silver said while speaking about meeting her husband for the first time. But they didn't start dating right away. They developed a friendship and by the time things turned romantic between them, their big age difference didn't matter to them or to any of Arlene's friends. 'We were friends for so long that when I told people that I know, they were happy about [our relationship], and I was scared,' Silver admitted. Meanwhile, Silver previously told The Huffington Post that she remembers seeing Van Dyke for the first time '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?"' During his career, that spans more than seven decades, Van Dyke earned five Emmys, a Tony, a Grammy, a BAFTA, the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, and induction into the Television Hall Of Fame, which was due in large part to his role as Rob Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966), as well as The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971-1974) and The Carol Burnett Show (1977). The actor's most recent project is a role in the upcoming film, Capture The Flag, which is currently in pre-production. Van Dyke and Silver will celebrate 10 years of marriage next February. He has four children: sons Barry and Christian and daughters Stacy and Carrie that were born during his first marriage to Margie Willett, which lasted from 1948 until their divorce in 1984. The proud family man now also has five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The acting icon will turn 100 in December.
CBS News
27-03-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Palisades Fire victims form volunteer fire brigade as they work to rebuild their community
Months after thousands of homes in their community were destroyed by the Palisades Fire, some Pacific Palisades residents have decided to take action by forming their own volunteer fire brigades. It's a common trend that has been happening across Los Angeles County after the devastating series of wildfires ravaged much of the region in early January. So far, there have been similar groups formed in Altadena and Topanga, joining the already established team in Malibu. While they work to rebuild their communities, they're also looking ahead to the next potential tragedy and getting ready to protect themselves if the need arises. Joel Pollak is one of those volunteers, who recalled the chaotic moments that he and two men were able to save his home, and a row of others alongside it. "Two guys drove up in a pickup truck," Pollak said. "I had never seen them before. I think they were handymen from the neighborhood and they volunteered to help, so the three of us took a couple more buckets and we formed an assembly line putting out the fire at my house." He believes their actions played a large part in keeping his home standing. Unfortunately though, hundreds of others burned, something he says points to system failures. "Even when they were able to show up, they didn't have water. No pressure in the hydrants, not any water in the reservoir," Pollak said of firefighters attempting to battle the rapidly spreading flames on January 7. "There were also so many other things that local people struggled with. The traffic jam on Sunset Boulevard that resulted in the fire department having to bulldoze those cars, and really could've cost many people their lives." Now, he and five of his neighbors have turned their focus on strengthening what his three-man assembly line was able to accomplish months ago. "Ordinary neighbors who just wanted to be part of something. That's why we started the Marquez-Knolls Volunteer Fire Department," Pollak said. The nonprofit team may mirror Malibu's Community Brigade, which has recently made headlines for standing on the frontlines with firefighters in the face of recent wildfires. Marquez-Knolls' group already has a truck and water tanks, and if possible they'll look to train with Los Angeles' firefighters. Pollak said that he imagines they'll be able to help in an even broader sense when it comes to emergency response. "Direct traffic, they can guide people in evacuations, that can communicate with law enforcement and with the fire department, that can offer advice or first aid, and that can offer some basic firefighting skills before the trucks arrive, before the professionals arrive, or if they can't arrive," he said. He says that they're not trying to become firefighters, they just want to help in the face of an unprecedented emergency like they saw months ago. "We're not trying to become firefighters, we want to work with the fire department and do things to help prepare the community for an emergency. Making sure people are ready for an emergency — because we weren't." As they continue to put together the first pieces of their team, they've started an online fundraiser to help pay for basic materials like walkie talkies and training.
Fox News
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Dick Van Dyke channels ‘Mary Poppins' character as he performs at fundraiser for California wildfires
Dick Van Dyke is raising money while also bringing joy to his fans. The 99-year-old Hollywood legend hosted an intimate event called Vandy Camp, in an effort to raise money for California's Community Brigade, an organization which helps train volunteers to be better prepared to respond to wildfires and other emergency situations. Van Dyke, alongside his wife, Arlene Silver, and his a capella singing group, The Vantastix, took the stage at Aviator Nation Dreamland in Malibu to sing a few iconic songs from some of his most well-known movies. Prior to the event, the actor shared video of him and his band onstage during a soundcheck on Instagram, in which they can be heard singing the titular song from his 1968 movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and other songs. While on stage, the actor and his wife paid tribute to one of Van Dyke's most popular films, "Mary Poppins," as they both wore T-shirts featuring an illustration of his character in the movie, along with the title of one of the songs he sings, "Step In Time." He shared more photos and videos from the event on Facebook, including a parody of the song "Bare Necessities" from "The Jungle Book," in which he changed the lyrics to poke fun at his old age. Despite warning the crowd, "I really don't sing anymore, so this is going to be something," before singing "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," the audience erupted in applause when he finished the song. During a break in the performance, he also sat down and discussed his experience dealing with the recent fires in LA. "Somehow our house survived. We got singed a little bit on the garage but we almost, but we almost, almost," he told the crowd, later revealing he has survived five fires, most notably in 1961. "Back in the '60s, I lived in Mandeville Canyon, up on the ridge. That big Bel-Air fire came in and we had to leave," he explained. "We came back and our house was standing there, the houses on both sides of us had burned down. It's fate. Somebody's looking out for me." Van Dyke and his wife were forced to evacuate their home during the Franklin Fire in December 2024, but did not have to during the Palidades Fire in January 2025. He spoke about his experience evacuating during the Franklin Fire during an appearance on "Today" in December 2024, sharing he tried to protect his home from the raging fire himself, and only narrowly escaped. "It was coming over the hill. You [could] see it," he explained. "I was trying to crawl to the car. I had exhausted myself. I couldn't get up. And three neighbors came and carried me out… came back and put out a little fire in the guest house… saved me." Prior to the "Today" appearance, the actor shared on Facebook that he and his wife "safely evacuated with our animals." The fires began shortly after Van Dyke's home was featured in a music video for Coldplay's song, "All My Love," which also starred the actor and celebrated his decades-long career in Hollywood.
