Dick Van Dyke Reveals His Secret Emmy Rivalry With Friend Ed Asner

Dick Van Dyke and Ed Asner with Emmy Satuecollage — Courtesy: Everett Collection

Dick Van Dyke and Ed Asner maintained a long friendship, one that led to a fun professional rivalry and hopes that they’d get to team up on screen — but sadly, the pair didn’t get their planned remake of The Odd Couple into production before Asner died in 2021 at age 91.

Dick, now 99, revealed his and Asner’s plans to remake the classic comedy in a Q&A at his and wife Arlene Van Dyke’s Vandy Camp event in Malibu, California, per People.

“That would’ve been such fun, and we lost it,” the actor said of his and Asner’s remake idea. “I’ve lost a lot of friends.”

“[Dick has] outlived everybody,” Arlene said. “That’s the curse of living to almost 100.”

Arlene did say, however, that Dick remains “so positive.”

“Well, life’s been good to me. I can’t complain,” Dick explained.

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In another Vandy Camp recollection — seen in an Instagram video — Dick recalled his playful Emmy Awards rivalry with the Mary Tyler Moore Show star.

“I remember Ed Asner had seven Emmys, and I had six, and I said, ‘Boy, I’m gonna…’” he said. “And one year, I won two Emmys … and I called him up, I said, ‘I gotcha, buddy!’ He was the greatest guy, Ed. Loved him. Wonderful man.”

The Odd Couple began its life as a Neil Simon play, debuting on Broadway in 1965 with Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison and Art Carney as Felix Ungar, two divorced, polar-opposite men who decide to live together.

The success of the Broadway production led to many adaptations, including a 1968 film with Matthau and Jack Lemmon and a 1970s ABC sitcom with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. More recently, Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon played Oscar and Felix, respectively, in a 2015 CBS sitcom adaptation.