Dick Van Dyke, 98, reveals VERY surprising detail about his Hollywood career that leaves interviewer stunned

Dick Van Dyke described himself as a 'lazy person' while reflecting on his prolific career in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning ahead of an upcoming tribute special.

The 98-year-old legendary entertainer during an interview with CBS news correspondent Tracy Smith was asked if he planned his career that has spanned more than seven decades in film, television and stage.

'No. I never did. As a businessman, I'm not much good. I would do a movie or something and come home and just sit down and wait for the phone to ring,' Dick said during their sit-down interview.

'I wasn't aggressive. So I was out of work a lot because I didn't go out and look for it,' Dick said smiling.

'And how did that sit with you?,' Tracy asked.

'Well, I didn't mind it. I'm pretty lazy really. When I'm having fun, you know, all right. But I'm a lazy person,' Dick said with a laugh.

'Really?,' Tracy asked incredulously.

'I lack a lot of drive. I've been very lucky,' Dick said.

'Wow,' Tracy said.

'There's always somebody to pick me up and put me over there,' Dick said.

'That's wonderful, it just sort of happened,' Tracy said.

'It did. It just happened,' Dick said.

Dick starred in the beloved children's movies Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and also in the classic TV sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show.

He will be celebrated in the two-hour tribute special 'Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic' that will air on Thursday on CBS and streaming on the Paramount+ service.

The old set of The Dick Van Dyke Show has been recreated for the tribute special, a variety extravaganza with song, dance and special guests.

Dick attended the taping of the special with his wife Arlene Silver, 52.

Old footage will also be played in the special, spanning some of the highlights of his wide-ranging career on stage, film and television.

Dick began his performing career during World War II, dropping out of high school to join the US Army Air Corps and eventually landing military work as a radio announcer and an entertainer for the troops.

In the 1950s, he jobbed around as a nightclub performer and drifted into television - eventually starting his tenure at CBS in 1955, when he was enlisted to replace no less than Jack Paar as host of The Morning Show.

It was on Broadway, however, that he first became a major name as the leading man of the smash hit 1960 stage musical Bye Bye Birdie.

With music by Charles Strouse of later Annie fame, Bye Bye Birdie satirized the frenzy of Elvis Presley fans and earned Dick a Tony Award.

His performance onstage also attracted the attention of Carl Reiner, who brought him to Hollywood, where The Dick Van Dyke Show began.

An instant classic, The Dick Van Dyke Show ran from 1961 to 1966 and made a national star out of its namesake - as well as his leading lady Mary Tyler Moore.

Dick's Hollywood career soared in the 1960s, landing him in movie musicals like Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the film adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie.

In the 1970s he pursued more dramatic roles, playing alcoholics in The Comic and The Morning After and then confessing he had gone on the wagon in real life.

He became a regular on The Carol Burnett Show and hopped between guest roles on the top TV series of the 1970s and 1980s, from Columbo to The Golden Girls.

Dick and his son Barry Van Dyke then starred together on Diagnosis: Murder, a successful crime comedy that ran eight seasons from 1993 to 2001.

A classic showbiz trouper, he continued working through his 80s and 90s, including in the 2018 film Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

In recent years he has been lavished with baubles for lifetime achievement, including a Kennedy Center Honor and a designation as a Disney Legend.

Yet despite plenty of laurels to rest on, he has stayed in the game, appearing this year on The Masked Singer and Days Of Our Lives.