Dick Van Dyke blames Grim Reaper for derailing Odd Couple remake with Ed Asner

The 99-year-old showbiz icon has long defied the Reaper's plans and continues to taunt the specter.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  May 25, 2025 | 1:45pm
Photo by Albert L. Ortega (WireImage)
Film News Dick Van Dyke
Dick Van Dyke blames Grim Reaper for derailing Odd Couple remake with Ed Asner

Dick Van Dyke, one of Hollywood’s most beloved nonagenarians, has long had a beef with Death, tap-dancing away from the Grim Reaper’s cursed finger long enough to continue surprising audiences with award show appearances and Q&A participation. Van Dyke is the link between show business’ past and future, but getting projects done with his fellow Tinseltown elders comes with a new set of challenges. Per People, at a recent Q&A event with his wife Arlene, Van Dyke revealed that scheduling conflicts with the Pale Horseman derailed a proposed Odd Couple remake starring him and Ed Asner. Asner’s 2021 death made filming impossible.

Van Dyke didn’t go into much detail about the project, leaving out whether the adaptation would be a film or stage adaptation, but we can infer from ccontext clues that he would have played Felix and Asner, Oscar. “That would’ve been such fun, and we lost it,” Van Dyke said. “I’ve lost a lot of friends.” It’s the curse of living to 100, his wife calls it, who insists that her husband is still “so positive” in the face of death.

“Well, life’s been good to me. I can’t complain,” Van Dyke said. “I’m a ham. I love it. I get a jolt of energy from an audience.”

Following the format of middle-aged divorces, one suicidal, the other merely messy, CBS rebooted the sitcom in 2015 with Thomas Lennon and the late Matthew Perry. However, an Odd Couple starring two 90-year-olds sounds like a good way to update the series, especially with two stars of Van Dyke and Asner’s caliber. Unfortunately, the curse of living to 100 means watching the Angel of Death disturb perfectly good entertainment for seemingly no reason other than to bum us out. That said, if Van Dyke is looking for another 90-year-old Felix, perhaps June Squibb is available.

 
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