WASHINGTON • After Dick Van Dyke got the call informing him that he had been selected as a Kennedy Centre honouree, the actor did exactly what he was told not to do: He called his family to tell them the good news.
And why not? He is a 95-year-old elder statesman of show business whose eponymous television show is considered to have helped shape American sitcoms for decades.
"My wife took the call and the instructions were, 'Congratulations but do not tell anybody'," Van Dyke said in a phone interview on Tuesday. "You can't do that! I called all my relatives right away. I couldn't hold that in."
Van Dyke now adds to his resume one of the highest artistic honours in the United States.
The other recipients, announced by the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, include singer-songwriter and activist Joan Baez; country music star Garth Brooks; actress, choreographer and producer Debbie Allen; and violinist Midori.
Last year, the coronavirus pandemic scrambled the schedule for the Kennedy Centre Honours.
Typically held in December, the performances and ceremonies associated with the show have been postponed to May, with the broadcast scheduled for June 6 on CBS.
Another major change lies in the shifting political winds. While US President Donald Trump did not attend the honours during his term or hold the traditional White House reception for the honourees, President-elect Joe Biden is expected to rekindle the relationship.
The honourees - selected based on the recommendation of an advisory committee that includes Kennedy Centre officials and past award recipients - represent folk, country and classical music, as well as theatre and television.
Over the last 10 months, all five of these artistes have been searching for safe ways to share their art and interact with their audiences.
Baez, 80, has exhibited her paintings virtually, for example; Allen, 70, has taught live dance classes to a virtual audience of more than 35,000; and Van Dyke said that he was delighted to learn from fan mail that some children, home from school, had discovered the sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961 to 1966) as well as musical films Mary Poppins (1964) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968).
For Midori, 49, the Japanese-born violinist who gained fame in the US after she performed with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 11, the pandemic has brought a greater appreciation for performing in front of an audience, in the flesh. She has given virtual workshops and master classes during the pandemic.
"It made me realise how precious the moments of being able to do things live are," she said.
NYTIMES
