Zooey Deschanel (Right) presents the award for Outstanding Guest Performance in a Daytime Drama Series for ‘Days of Our Lives’ to Dick Van Dyke during the 51st Daytime Emmy Awards at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles on Friday, June 7, 2024. Photo credit: Chris Pizzello
Dick Van Dyke has won a historic Daytime Emmy Award at the age of 98.
The actor was honored as a guest star in a daytime drama series Friday night, playing the amnesiac Timothy Robicheaux on Peacock’s “Days of Our Lives.”
“I can’t believe it. I feel like a nighttime television detective,” he said. “I’m 98 years old. Can you believe it? It’s really the best part of an 80-year lifespan in the business. If I knew I could live that long I would have taken better care of myself.”
Van Dyke received a standing ovation as he walked to the stage with the help of a cane. He was accompanied by his wife Arlene, who was holding the trophy.
He said, “I mentioned this woman because she was also on the show. She played the police officer who arrested me.”
Van Dyke is the oldest Daytime Emmy winner. Producer Norman Lear was 100 when he received his final Primetime Emmy nomination in 2022 and died the following year.
Van Dyke has won four Primetime Emmy Awards, including three for his classic comedy series “The Dick Van Dyke Show” in the 1960s.
Van Dyke beat out last year’s winner Alie Mills of “General Hospital,” Australian actor Guy Pearce of Amazon freeway’s “Neighbors,” Linden Ashby of “The Young and the Restless” and Ashley Jones of “The Bold and the Beautiful.”
Robert Gossett of “General Hospital” and Courtney Hope of “The Young and the Restless” won supporting acting honors.
Gossett, the cousin of the late Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr., was honored for the second consecutive year for his role as Marshall Ashford on the ABC soap opera.
Hope, who plays Sally Spectra on the CBS soap, landed the role on “The Bold and the Beautiful” in 2017 before moving to “B&B” in 2020.
The ceremony, honoring soap operas, talk and game shows, was broadcast live on CBS from the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
The 51st annual Daytime Emmys were moved back to their usual spot on the calendar, while the 50th edition of the show aired in December, having been postponed the previous year due to the Hollywood writers and actors strike.
