December 13: Born Today

"I think it's such a shame that Walt didn't live to see computer animation, because he would have had a good time with it. ... In those days it was before the blue screen. They used what was called yellow sulphur lighting -- the screen was yellow, and we worked with that all day, and by the time the day was over you couldn't see anything.
It was just an empty sound stage. And sometimes we didn't even have the music -- we would just dance to a click rhythm. But I think technically it (Mary Poppins) holds up today just as well as anything."

Those words belong to comedian, writer, producer, computer animation enthusiast and Disney Legend Dick Van Dyke, who was born on this day in 1925 in Missouri. He is best known to Disney fans for his role of the chimney sweep Bert and Mr. Dawes Senior, the chairman of the bank in Walt Disney's 1964 musical feature Mary Poppins.

Learn more about Dick Van Dyke's Disney connection (and more December 13 history) by clicking HERE.