Dick Van Dyke ‘Feels Pretty Good for 100.’ Here’s Why He’s Optimistic About His Centennial Birthday (Exclusive)

Ask Dick Van Dyke what surprises him most about his upcoming centennial birthday on Dec. 13, and he simply says, “The fact that I made it.”

“I feel really good for 100,” he tells PEOPLE for a story in this week’s print issue, while sitting with his wife Arlene Silver, 54, at their Malibu home. “Sometimes I have more energy than others — but I never wake up in a bad mood.”

As he nears his centennial birthday on Dec. 13 (“I hope I make it,” he jokes), the legendary entertainer admits to being a bit hard of hearing and a tad wobbly, as he walks barefoot through his memorabilia-filled Malibu home with a cane. But the twinkly humor and lanky charm that endeared him to multiple generations are ever-present: Between telling jokes, tinkering at the piano and singing old favorites such “Puttin’ On the Ritz” and “Big Spender,” he quips, “I feel like I’m about 13.” 

In a new book, 100 Rules for Living to 100 (out now from Grand Central Publishing) he shares the ups and downs of his extraordinary life, why he doesn’t fear death and how he hopes to be remembered. “Each rule springs from a story in my own life, which I believe has stuck itself in my memory for a good reason — because it had some broader emotional significance for me.”

As a kid growing up in the Great Depression in Danville, Ill., he developed a knack for pratfalls playing cops and robbers with his brother Jerry, a skill that came in handy as the rubber-limbed star of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early ’60s. That’s when Walt Disney — the man, not the company — offered him the role of a lifetime as Bert the chimney sweep in the 1964 classic Mary Poppins, opposite Julie Andrews. His turn in 1968’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cemented his status as a national treasure.

And as his birthday approaches, the legendary entertainer remains an eternal optimist. 

“People say ‘What did you do right?’” he says. “I don’t know. I’m rather lazy. I’ve always thought that anger is one thing that eats up a person’s insides — and hate. And I never really was able to work up a feeling of hate. I think that is one of the chief things that kept me going.”

“There were things I didn’t like, people I don’t like and disapprove of,” he explains. “But I never really was able to do a white heat kind of hate. My father (Loren Van Dyke) was constantly upset by the state of things in his life and it did take him at 73 years old.” Dyke’s father, who had emphysema, died in 1972.

He also writes candidly about what lies ahead: “The end of my life is so much closer.”  

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“When you expire, you expire,” he tells PEOPLE. “I don’t have any fear of dearth for some reason. I can’t explain that but I don’t. I’ve had such a wonderfully full and exciting life. That I can’t complain.”

He credits Arlene, whom he married in 2012, with keeping him young-at-heart. “She’s responsible for keeping me in the moment,” he says. “She kept me happy every day of my life, every day. She’s a joy. She can get me singing or dancing and she carries so much responsibility … I’m just lucky.”

“What I left in the way of children’s entertainment and children’s music — that’s my legacy,” he tells PEOPLE. “I don’t think remembering me is that important. But it’s the music, the music we leave behind. For as long as children are proudly belting out their new word, ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,’ or singing and skipping along to ‘Chim Chim Cher-ee,’ the most important part of me will always be alive.” 

As for his positive attitude, he believes that’s as natural for him as his musical talent and toe-tapping moves. “I think I’ve decided that people are born with an outlook,” he reflects. “I just think I was born with a brighter outlook. I look at the horizon. I think some people are born just to have to fight against a downward spiral. And after 100 years, I think I’m right.” 

A merry heart if there ever was. Asked towards the end of the interview if there’s anything he wants to add, he simply says, “I want to thank the public for giving me such a wonderful life.”

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100 Rules for Living to 100 is available now, wherever books are sold.