Alec Baldwin and Carl Reiner to present Dick Van Dyke with SAG Life Achievement Award

Alec Baldwin and Carl Reiner will present Dick Van Dyke with the SAG 49th Life Achievement Award at this years Screen Actors Guild Awards being held in Los Angeles later this month.

SAG-AFTRA is honoring 87-year-old Van Dyke for his career achievement and humanitarian accomplishments.

Past recipients of the Life Achievement Award include Mary Tyler Moore, Ernest Borgnine, Betty White, James Earl Jones, Charles Durning, Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury and Clint Eastwood.

Dick, best know for his roles in childhood movies Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and for his medical drama series Diagnosis Murder, started his career as a radio dj before making his Broadway debut in The Girls Against the Boys in 1959.

Van Dyke then began his film career by playing the role of Albert J. Peterson in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie before moving on to the Disney classic, Mary Poppins, in 1964.

“Dick is the consummate entertainer – an enormously talented performer whose work has crossed nearly every major category of entertainment,” said SAG-AFTRA co-president Ken Howard.

“From his career-changing Broadway turn in Bye Bye Birdie and his deadpan humour in the Emmy winning Dick Van Dyke Show, to his unforgettable performance as Bert in Mary Poppins, he sets a high bar for actors.”

Born Richard Wayne Van Dyke, the beloved star has previously won five Emmys, one Tony Award and a Grammy.

The awards show will air live on TNT and TBS.

The Emmy-winning Van Dyke made his television-acting debut in 1957 and Broadway debut in 1959. The following year his career soared when he was cast opposite Chita Rivera in the Broadway production of “Bye Bye Birdie.” His performance as Albert Peterson earned Van Dyke a Tony® Award and brought him to the attention of Reiner, who signed him for a pilot opposite newcomer Moore. In 1963, Van Dyke spent his series’ hiatus shooting the film version of “Bye Bye Birdie” in 1963 followed by “What a Way to Go” and Disney’s 1964 musical classic “Mary Poppins,” which won five Academy Awards®, including one for star Julie Andrews (recipient of the 2006 Life Achievement Award). Van Dyke earned a Golden Globe® nomination and, with Andrews, a Grammy®. A run of films followed including “Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN,” “Divorce American Style,” “Fitzwilly,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “The Comic,” directed by Reiner, among others. He returned to movies again in 1979’s “The Runner Stumbles,” 1990’s “Dick Tracy” and more recently, the Ben Stiller comedy “Night at the Museum” (2006). On the small screen, his numerous roles include the crime-solving physician Dr. Mark Sloan in “Diagnosis: Murder,” which ran from 1993 to 2001. The ever-energetic Van Dyke has written several books and in 2000, formed Dick Van Dyke & the Vantastix, an a cappella quartet. Among the venues they’ve played are the Disney Concert Hall and Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., with the President and First Lady in the front row.

For nearly 20 years Van Dyke has been committed to volunteering at Los Angeles’ century-old shelter, The Midnight Mission. He helped raise millions for their new building program and is there every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and times in between offering comfort and cheer. He is passionate about raising funds for music and art programs for public schools and became a spokesperson for the National Reye’s Syndrome Foundation in 1967 after losing a granddaughter to that disease. In 2010, he was named the first spokesperson for the Cell Therapy Foundation.