My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: A Memoir is written by the famous Dick Van Dyke. Van Dyke became a television celebrity for his role on the Dick Van Dyke Show with co-star Mary Tyler Moore. His latest television roles were for the Diagnosis Murder series that appeared on the air from 1993 to 2001. While he isn’t a well-known star to this generation, he certainly made a splash. At the age of 82, Dick Van Dyke is still going strong. This book chronicles his life.
There are some surprising revelations about his life that were never portrayed on the television screen. Before he hit it big, he was like every other actor looking for his big break. He details his life before and after success found him.
It is a little light in some areas. For example, Van Dyke’s early life is summed up in relatively few pages. You don’t get a lot of stories about how he grew up. Another area in which it tends to have a lot fewer details is show business. While you get some anecdotes about his career, you get very little detail about him in show business.
The book mainly focus on his relationship with his wife, four children, and Michelle Triola. She could be called the other woman in his life, with whom he had a 35-year relationship. This is certainly one of the more surprising aspects of his life’s story.
The book is mostly a lighthearted view of Van Dyke’s life. Rather than tell stories full of should-haves, would-haves, and regrets, he instead praises his success, makes light of his failures, and overall shows how truly “lucky” he was in life.
While the younger generation probably hasn’t seen much of what he produced, those who are fans of Dick Van Dyke will love reading about the man behind the comedy. It is probably best to grab this book from the library. There are a few pictures, so the Kindle might not be the best place to read it. However, the pictures aren’t really necessary to get the full enjoyment of the book.
