Posted on 01/06/2018 12:43:49 PM PST by EdnaMode
The younger brother of Dick Van Dyke, the comic actor turned down 'Gilligan's Island' to star on the ill-fated 'My Mother the Car.'
Jerry Van Dyke, the younger brother of Dick Van Dyke who earned four Emmy nominations for playing the befuddled defensive coordinator Luther Van Dam on the ABC comedy Coach, has died, a source close to his family confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 86.
Van Dyke famously passed up the opportunity to star on Gilligan's Island in favor of toplining the short-lived My Mother the Car, considered one of the worst shows in TV history.
Van Dyke started out as a banjo-playing stand-up comic, and his fun persona throughout his long career was that of a country boy, endearingly earnest and slow-witted.
After working on several TV shows that never stuck, Van Dyke earned supporting actor Emmy nominations in 1990, '91, '92 and '94 for his work as one of Craig T. Nelson's assistants on the staff of the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles on Coach. The series aired for nine seasons, from 1989 until 1997.
“God knows I tried to make it earlier in life, but with all due respect to myself, nothing I ever did was any good,” Van Dyke told People magazine in a 1993 interview. "I would like to philosophize and say what it was that kept me going, but the truth is, I can't do anything else."
More recently, Van Dyke had a recurring role as Tag Spence, the father of Patricia Heaton's Frankie, on The Middle. Dick appeared as his brother on the ABC sitcom in 2015, and the two often appeared on the small screen together. They also shared the stage for a production of The Sunshine Boys.
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
And we lost Mary Tyler Moore last year. Who’d’ve thught that Dick Van Dyke would have outlived all three of them?
They must have long life genes in that family?
I always liked the character’s he played.
Could have been Gilligan, and could have been Barney Fife too, IIRC. Very entertaining guy. RIP
I liked him on Coach and on The Middle. The characters were pretty similar, lol.
What ‘role on Gilligan’s Island’ did he turn down? I assume it was the Gilligan role, but the article is not specific.
I think Jerry had a fairly narrow range. But within that range, he was very good.
RIP
My Mother The Car Intro (Widescreen)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_3jcDKUBtQ
I liked him as Dick Van Dykes’ stuttering, sleep walking brother on the Dick Van Dyke Show. My mom also reminded me he did a guest appearance on the early Andy Griffith Show.
He was also funny in My Mother the Car, bad as it was. The show is actually funnier now in retrospect.
It was the Gilligan role. One story is that JVD or maybe his agent suggested Denver instead.
RIP.
And Carl Reiner is still alive, too.
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Mary Tyler Moore a year ago, Rose Marie last week, and now his younger brother. I wonder how much longer we’ll have 92-year-old Dick Van Dyke with us? He seems amazingly healthy, spry, and mentally sharp.
I think he would have mad a good Gilligan.
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