Dick Van Dyke reveals one project that 'drained' his confidence

Dick Van Dyke is looking back on an unpleasant moment from the set of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Speaking at his Vandy High Tea charity event in Malibu, Calif., Oct. 5, Van Dyke recalled how a comment about his nose on his first day of filming left him feeling self-conscious.

“I got into costume and went to makeup,” said Van Dyke, who turns 100 in December. “I heard the director, Ken Hughes, talking to the makeup artist and saying, ‘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.”

He then turned to his wife, Arlene Silver, 54, and asked, “Do I have a big nose?” She reassured him that it fit his face “perfectly.”

Van Dyke admitted that moment “was not a good first day,” though the rest of filming went far smoother.

During the discussion, Van Dyke also recalled one of the movie’s most famous scenes when his character straps rockets to his back, only for things to go hilariously wrong.

“I went to the dressing room, and it had burned my socks off my feet. I didn’t feel anything,” he said. “I took my shoes off, and my socks were gone. I never felt a thing.”

Despite the dangerous stunts, Van Dyke said he’s been lucky throughout his career. “For all the crazy things I did, I never really had a bad accident,” he shared.