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 ...
There’s nothing new under the Sun! ;)
I LOVED The Dick Van Dyke show. It is sad to have most of the cast gone now. Do you recall seeing Jerry Van Dyke on at least one episode?
https://youtu.be/9xovZ7OIXT0
“The Andy Griffith Show 005- 032 #Banjo Playing Deputy”
Yep, I think that’s the one...same episode you were talking about.
The Dick Van Dyke Show (TV Series)
Stacey Petrie
- Stacey Petrie: Part II (1965) ... Stacey Petrie
- Stacey Petrie: Part I (1965) ... Stacey Petrie
- The Sleeping Brother (1962) ... Stacey Petrie
- I Am My Brother’s Keeper (1962) ... Stacey Petrie
who cares what andy Griffith after he second wife f..ed over his children when he died. most say in real life he was a real sob! same faith, he lived 35 miles from me growing up, then when to unc chapel, got to be the big deal...
RIP. He used to live right across the street here.
Mary Ann....
That’s pretty funny.
Thank you!
That’s awesome. He was a pretty funny actor. RIP.
Stole every scene he was in on “Coach”. Like Don Knots’ Barney Fife.
I don’t remember him on there, but Tim Conway had a couple of great episodes.
The late Sam Kinneson on the Howard Stern show called Hanks the poor man's Bill Murray, when Hanks first started getting movie rolls.
Dawn Wells. Hubba hubba!
Nah..she will have you milk the cows at 5am...Ginger hot ubs and parties...lol
Antenna TV was running a Coach marathon over Christmas.
It was so good that he got that chance to revive his career after My Mother the Car. Funny guy! RIP.
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