Inside The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang On-Set Incident That Shook Dick Van Dyke’s Confidence
A stinging on-set remark during Chitty Chitty Bang Bang left Dick Van Dyke painfully self-conscious and drained his confidence, he says — yet the screen legend powered on, and at 99 he’s still working.
File this under things you really don’t want to overhear on day one: Dick Van Dyke says a throwaway comment about his nose on the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang set rattled him so hard it stuck with him for decades. Yes, even legends get rattled.
Day one on Chitty, confidence at zero
Speaking at the Vandy High Tea charity event on Sunday, October 5, 2025, Van Dyke shared a memory that, frankly, makes old-school set etiquette look pretty harsh. Per PEOPLE, he was just starting his first day on the film when he heard director Ken Hughes talking with a makeup artist. The topic: his nose.
"I heard him say, 'What about the hooter?'
And all my confidence drained out of me, all I got was nose jokes. I never thought I had a big nose."
"The first day was not good."
Brutal. You can practically feel the air leaving the room. He says that moment is what first made him insecure about his nose, and the constant jokes didn’t help. It’s a small exchange, but it clearly landed hard.
The movie soared anyway
Here’s the twist: while his first day was a confidence sinkhole, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang went on to become a family classic and a fixture in his filmography. The movie is still well-regarded in its lane, and it helped cement Van Dyke’s household-name status. So, terrible first impression, enduring legacy.
Van Dyke at 99: still moving, still working
As for Van Dyke himself, he’s still out there doing the work at 99, with zero interest in hitting the brakes. He turns 100 on December 13, 2025, and sounds like he’s planning to keep going. Honestly, that might be the most impressive part of the whole story.