Barry Van Dyke – Five Fast Facts

There is something about the name Barry Van Dyke that tells you without really knowing him that he is some bloke for the big stage. It might be because his name has a resemblance with that of current European Soccer player of the season Van Djyk. Or it might be because of where he came from: His father is an actor, comedian, and all-round entertainer, and his uncle earned a living on the screen. This is what this post is about, finding out. So here are all the facts you need to know about the man who was Lieutenant Detective Steve Sloan in the mystery drama Diagnosis: Murder.

Barry was born in Atlanta

Barry Van Dyke was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in July 1951. He is number two child in a family of four kids born to Dick Van Dyke and Margie Willett. Little is known of his childhood and education but a lot is already known. Fathered by a Hollywood star with an uncle in the industry, there is no price for guessing who his biggest influence is – he has identified his father as a mentor. He has also said it was his father who insisted he took time off acting to finish high school. Barry Van Dyke went on to attend the Pierce Junior College in Los Angeles where he studied Theater Arts.

Barry is 68 years old today.

Barry Van Dyke’s family is laden with actors

Barry Van Dyke’s father is an actor. Dick Van Dyke was born in 1925 and has been in the industry since the 1940s. He is somewhat of a legend in the industry. He has won five Primetime Emmy Awards, one Tony, and one Grammy; he’s a Disney legend, a Screen Actors Guide Lifetime achiever, inducted into Television Hall of Fame, and on Hollywood Walk of Fame; he has had two shows on his name in two different decades. He is not somewhat of a legend. He is a legend in the art.

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Van Dyke got married to Margerie Willett in 1948 on a then-popular radio show “Bride and Groom”. The marriage was blessed with four kids namely  Christian, Barry, Stacy, and Carrie Beth. The couple separated in the late 1970s and formally divorced in 1984. Mr. Dyke remarried and remained so with his partner Michelle Triola until her death in 2009, just a year after his late wife, Margerie, passed away.

Barry’s uncle and Dick’s brother, Jerry Van Dyke, was also an actor. He passed away in 2018. While in Hollywood, his finest moment was as Luther Van Dam on the series “Coach” the sitcom on ABC between 1989 and 1997. But there are a lot of people who associate Jerry with some of the worst acts on TV during his lifetime including a certain “My Mother The Car” on NBC which many have identified as the worst sitcom of all time.

Career – He was a detective

Van Dyke made his debut in 1962 in an episode of his father’s short-lived show “The Dick Van Dyke Show” on CBS. In 1971, he returned to his father’s show, this time, the shorter-lived “The New Dick Van Dyke Show”.

There are some people who know Van Dyke for his role as Detective Steve Sloan in the “Diagnosis: Murder” franchise and there are a lot of them. His relationship with these shows began in 1992 in the “Diagnosis of Murder” as Detective Steve Sloan the ex-Vietnam fighter who brings ruthlessness in the pursuit of justice in LAPD. In all, Barry played the role in five television films then 178 episodes across eight seasons in the series “Diagnosis: Murder” between 1993 and 2001.

In 2006, Barry began to play Mike Bryant in the TV film series “Murder 101”. In this role, he played a private detective who left the police after he was blackmailed. He works with his father, a professor of criminology who solves crimes that happen in front of him. Barry Van Dyke’s father in this movie series is a certain Dick Van Dyke who is the father of a certain Barry Van Dyke in real life.

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Barry’s act usually entails him appearing in military or mystery/crime acts such as the military and spy series on CBS/USA Network in the 1980s “Airwolf”, the “The A-Team” which follows the exploits of a US Army special forces group on NBC,  and “Murder, She Wrote” the crime drama series on CBS.

Barry Van Dyke birthed actors

Like Dick Van Dyke, like Barry Van Dyke, the junior Van Dyke also birthed four kids and actors of his marriage to Mary Carey (the two got married in 1974). His first child is Carey Van Dyke an actor and writer born in February 1976. The third child is Wes Van Dyke was born on October 1984. He is an actor who was in “Titanic II” and on the movie series “Diagnosis: Murder”, and “Murder 101” (which also had his father and grandpa as part of the cast). The last child is Taryn Van Dyke who is an actor as well.

Barry is the second child and the most successful entertainer of his father’s children. In keeping to the Van Dyke tradition, Barry’s second child Shane Van Dyke is the most successful of all his siblings in Hollywood. He is an actor, film director, and screenwriter. Shane’s best-known work is “Titanic II” a movie he wrote, directed and starred in, a movie in which some smart critic described as “better than one might expect, but not as good as one might hope.”

Barry Van Dyke is over six foot tall and not a poor man

Barry Van Dyke is a tall man. This is no big deal as Hollywood is a borough of tall men and beautiful women. The average Hollywood actor stands at 5 feet 10 inches. Barry Van Dyke stands at 6 feet 1 inch (or 1.85 meters). When put on top his account balance, Van Dyke is an even taller man. He stands on three million dollars.

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But when put side by side his father, Barry looks like some average dude in the street of Los Angeles. Van Dyke senior is worth 50 million dollars. But since Barry is expected to inherit something off his father’s loot, it is a win-win situation.

Image source: CBS