Jerry Van Dyke documentary showing at film festival

By By Jill Zemen Bleed, The Associated Press

Actor and comedian Jerry Van Dyke has joined august names like Bill Clinton and Johnny Cash on the Arkansas Walk of Fame in Hot Springs — but Van Dyke’s plaque of honor is a little more silly.

It reads: “I love my wife Shirley and Hot Springs. Am I buried here?”

Van Dyke, 78, famous for having a famous brother and a recurring role on the 1990s sitcom, “Coach,” lives with his wife, Shirley, on a ranch between Malvern and Benton in central Arkansas. He was inducted last weekend into the Walk of Fame, which honors notable Arkansans in downtown Hot Springs.

“Everybody else has everything they’ve ever done (on their plaques), and my movies and TV series and things — well, years from now, nobody really cares,” Van Dyke said.

Van Dyke said he’s basically retired, but spent some time in the past year working on a film he’ll be showing this weekend at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

He originally shopped his documentary as a reality TV show — until he remembered that a regular television show is awfully tiring.

“I had a couple meetings that went pretty good and they were interested, and by the time I got home I had to go to bed,” he said. “Then I realized, what if I sell it? Then what? Because I’m enjoying just being retired and doing nothing.”

The 51-minute film, “What’s Eating Jerry Van Dyke,” is a comic look at Van Dyke’s quest to redefine himself as a dramatic actor. In the film, Van Dyke tries to raise money for a future — and totally hypothetical — film in which he takes on a dramatic role.

“I’ve always done comedy, and I’ve always wanted to do a dramatic role,” he said. “I wanted to be a sheriff.”

Van Dyke said he filmed the documentary about a year ago, with college students operating the cameras. Most of the people involved in it are his wife’s relatives, and the movie also features Van Dyke’s 95-year-old neighbor, whose thick Southern accent required subtitles.

Best known as Luther Van Dam on “Coach,” the brother of actor Dick Van Dyke knows it’s a stretch for people to envision him as a serious actor — and especially because he’s “over the hill.” That’s what makes the film funny, he said.

“Most of the movie, I look ridiculous,” he said. “I played it straight.”

Van Dyke met his wife, Shirley, when he visited the state decades ago to perform in clubs in Hot Springs.

“I came back 40 years ago and met her, and so I’m almost a native,” he said. “I’ve been here almost since. We love it.”

Van Dyke’s documentary will be shown Sunday afternoon at the Hot Springs festival.

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