Dick Van Dyke Almost Appeared in Hallmark’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ Series
Dick Van Dyke has been entertaining movie and TV audiences for decades. But did you know that the star of The Dick Van Dyke Show and Mary Poppins almost had a role in a Hallmark Channel TV series? The actor was supposed to appear in Signed, Sealed, Delivered. However, a health scare forced him to back out of the project.
Kristin Booth opens up about almost working with Dick Van Dyke on ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’
These days, Signed, Sealed, Delivered is a long-running movie series for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. But it got its start as a TV show, which aired for one season on Hallmark Channel in 2014.
Both the show and the movies follow the employees of the Dead Letter Office, who investigate mysteries involving long-lost mail. Kristin Booth plays a character named Shane, and she recently opened up about how Van Dyke was originally supposed to appear in the show.
“We were very close to having Dick guest star on [Signed, Sealed, Delivered],” she tweeted on March 6. “It was such a shame that he became ill. We did get to have a cast lunch with him and he’s a lovely person.”
Booth added that Signed, Sealed, Delivered creator Martha Williamson rewrote Van Dyke’s part, which eventually went to the “incomparable Della Reese,” who played supervisor Cora Brandt.
Dick Van Dyke reflected on almost working with Hallmark Channel in his 2015 memoir
Van Dyke shared more details about his Signed, Sealed, Delivered experience that wasn’t meant to be in his 2015 memoir, Keep Moving.
The actor was in Vancouver filming a scene for the 2014 movie Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, he shared. Shortly after, he was scheduled to begin work on the new Hallmark Channel series, which was also filming in Vancouver. But things didn’t go as planned.
Instead of filming the show in Canada as expected, he was “fighting for my life” after suddenly falling ill. The experience was a reminder of “how quickly and unexpectedly things can change,” he wrote. “It’s also a reminder of why today is always more important than tomorrow.”
The Dick Van Dyke Show star – who was then in his late 80s – had spent the day exploring Vancouver before filming began when he suddenly started to feel ill, he shared. By that evening, he had a fever and couldn’t get out of bed. Eventually, his wife, Arlene, reached out to the Signed, Sealed, Delivered production company to explain the situation. Filming the show was out of the question. Meanwhile, VanDyke’s condition worsened, and he ended up in the ER, where doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia.
Van Dyke eventually made it back to his home in Los Angeles, where he spent months recuperating from his illness. He said his desire to get back to performing helped him recover, as did the support of his wife.
“I benefitted from the patience and support of a loving wife and family who encouraged me to get back to the things I loved to do, which I think is the key to recovery,” he wrote. “Get back to what you love to do.”
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