Oldest actor to win a Daytime Emmy award

At the 51st Daytime Emmy Awards on 7 June 2024, Dick Van Dyke (USA, b. 13 December 1925) won the award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series for playing Timothy Robicheaux in the soap opera Days of Our Lives (Peacock, USA). Van Dyke was 98 years 177 days old at the time of collecting the award.

Among other awards, Van Dyke had previously won a hat-trick of Primetime Emmys in 1964-66 for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series for his sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS), a Best Children’s Album Grammy in 1965 for Mary Poppins, and a Best Featured Actor in a Musical Tony in 1961 for the stage musical Bye Bye Birdie.

In a career spanning seven decades, his acting credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), Dick Tracy (1990) and Night at the Museum (2006), while on TV he starred as Rob Petrie in 158 episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66) and as Dick Preston in 72 episodes of The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971-74). Additionally, he has displayed his versatility in a wide variety of TV shows including Columbo, The Golden Girls, Diagnosis: Murder, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Scrubs.

In 2023, he appeared as Gnome in the first episode of The Masked Singer series nine, performing Billie Holiday’s “When You’re Smiling”, and as himself in "McMansion & Wife", episode three of the 35th season of The Simpsons.