Meet Hollywood Icon Dick Van Dyke's Four Kids

Dick Van Dyke, who turned 100 years old in 2025, built a career that is nothing short of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. In the 1960s, he ruled the television world thanks to his titular sitcom "The Dick Van Dyke Show" with Mary Tyler Moore, and he also found tremendous success on the big screen with scene-stealing roles in "Mary Poppins," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," and "Bye Bye Birdie." He returned to the small screen in 1993 in the medical mystery crime drama "Diagnosis: Murder." Even into his 90s, Dick still enjoyed acting. He made his daytime soap opera debut on "Days of Our Lives" in 2023 and later won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performance. 

Dick married Margie Willett in 1948, and the couple went on to have four children. While one might assume it Dick Van Dyke's kids always led a charmed existence, the life of a nepo baby isn't without struggle. "They probably got neglected at some point, because I was really working hard to get out of poverty, so to speak, but I haven't had any complaints from anybody," Dick told People in 2025. Even still, Dick and Margie's four kids seemed to be raised right. "They all turned out great, I'm happy to say," he told USA Today in 2011. "Not a horse thief in the bunch." 

Dick and Margie divorced in 1984, and she died in 2009. Four years later, he married makeup artist Arlene Silver, who is 46 years his junior. It's no secret there's a massive age gap between Dick Van Dyke and his second wife — after all, she's younger than all of his children. Here's what else we know about Dick Van Dyke's four talented kids.

Dick Van Dyke and Margie Willett welcomed their first child, Christian Van Dyke, on May 13, 1950. When Christian was 11 years old, he made his first and only TV appearance on his pop's popular series "The Dick Van Dyke Show." However, he opted not to pursue an acting career. 

Instead, Christian pursued a legal career, eventually becoming a deputy district attorney in Corvallis, Oregon. He worked as an assistant attorney general and district attorney general. Christian eventually left public service for the private sector and worked for Nike for 14 years before taking his skills over to Patagonia, where he served as vice president of marketing. 

In 2017, Christian gave the commencement address at Oregon State University. "Chris is a visionary thinker and branding expert," said OSU-Cascades Vice President Becky Johnson, per the Cascade Business News. "He has demonstrated throughout his vibrant career a passion for integrity, communication and outdoor adventure. I know his message will resonate with our graduates." Some of his favorite outdoor activities include sailing and riding his motorcycle.

In 1970, Christian Van Dyke married Caroline Heller, and the couple went on to have three kids together; Dick Van Dyke has seven grandchildren in total. Christian and Caroline split up in the '80s, and both went on to remarry. 

Tragedy struck in 1987 when Christian and Caroline's 13-year-old daughter, Jessica Van Dyke, died from Reye's syndrome after having chicken pox. As the UPI reported at the time, Jessica had a fever and took aspirin. Days later, she developed an infection and died. Per the Mayo Clinic, Reye's syndrome is a condition that primarily impacts the brain, liver, and blood. It can manifest when a child takes aspirin while sick with chicken pox or the flu.

Though aspirin bottles have featured a warning label regarding the aforementioned risk since 1986, neither Jessica's parents nor her stepdad, Roger D. Heller, realized that they shouldn't give the pain reliever to a child with chicken pox. As Heller told UPI, "We looked and they're there. It's a little difficult to read, of course, and we have old aspirin bottles that don't have it on it."

Barry Van Dyke is the second of Dick Van Dyke and Margie Willett's four kids. He was born on July 31, 1951. Barry married Mary Carey in 1974 and had three sons and one daughter together. "He's an incredible father. An absolutely incredible father, much better than I was," Dick said of his son on an episode of "Born Famous" in 1987.

Barry is the only one of Dick's kids who dove headfirst into building a career in Hollywood for himself. Barry caught the acting bug at 9 years old when he popped in to make an appearance on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." However, his father wasn't keen on Barry becoming an actor at such a young age. "He wanted me to have my childhood. He told me that if I still wanted to act after I graduated high school, then it would be okay," Barry said in a 1994 interview with the Los Angeles Times.

Barry is aware of the power of his last name. While he has acknowledged that it opened the door for him, he also maintained that it wasn't the only thing that landed him acting gigs. "Eventually, it comes down to you either perform or you don't. You work or you don't," revealed Barry. A few of Barry's screen credits include "Battlestar Galactica," "Airwolf," and "Gun Shy."

Who better to play your son than your actual son? By far, Barry Van Dyke's biggest gig as an actor came in the long-running CBS medical mystery drama "Diagnosis: Murder." In the series, Dick Van Dyke played a doctor named Mark Sloan who also happens to solve crimes with the help of his detective son Steve Sloan, who was played by Barry. 

"I'd work with him any time," Dick told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. "He has a lot of integrity and he'll work no matter what, including physical discomfort. He set a fine example. We've always talked about working together." The small screen whodunit ran for eight seasons. Father and son also co-starred in four "Diagnosis: Murder" TV movies.

"It's an easy role for me to fall into," admitted Barry. "My dad pretty much plays himself. You're seeing the real him. All that warmth and humanity really comes across. So I tend to play myself. So their relationship is pretty much ours."

Stacy Van Dyke is Dick Van Dyke and Margie Willett's third child. Born in the mid-1950s, Stacy's earliest acting credit came about on a 1971 episode of "The New Dick Van Dyke Show." Decades later, she'd team up with her dad and big brother Barry Van Dyke for the 2002 TV movie "Diagnosis Murder: Town Without Pity."

While she's occasionally dabbled in the world of on-camera acting, Stacy found success as a live performer. In the 1970s, she worked as an entertainer at the Windmill Dinner Theater, a renowned dinner theater in Scottsdale, Arizona, that hosted celebrity guests. Per Phoenix Theater: An Eccentric History, she was a member of the Barnstormers, the name of the in-house troupe of restaurants hosts who also sang and danced for the patrons. 

Stacy met her husband, Mike Breen, a fellow actor and singer, at the Windmill. The couple married in 1979 and often collaborated on projects together. Evidently, their marriage came to an end: According to Breen's 2025 obituary, he was married to someone named Della Ralene Breen at the time of his death. 

Carrie Beth Van Dyke was born on October 18, 1961, making her the baby of the Van Dyke family. Carrie Beth scored her small-screen debut on her dad's series "The New Dick Van Dyke Show," where she appeared in two episodes in the early 1970s. 

She followed in her big sister's footsteps in more ways than one. Carrie Beth not only worked as a Barnstormer at the Windmill Dinner Theater, but met the man who would change her life at the iconic Scottsdale establishment. The youngest Van Dyke fell in love with fellow Barnstormer, Kevin McNally. According to Phoenix Theater: An Eccentric History, their union was a "romance out of the storybooks."

Carrie Beth and McNally got married in 1983 and had two children together. McNally, who is also a singer, joined his father-in-law and brother-in-law for a stint on "Diagnosis: Murder." There is not a lot of information on Carrie Beth, who apparently never returned to on-camera acting after her two-episode run on "The New Dick Van Dyke Show."