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Dick Van Dyke: ‘No one’ told me my Mary Poppins accent was bad

Dick Van Dyke says "no-one said anything" about his accent in ‘Mary Poppins’.
The 90-year-old actor famously played Bert in the 1964 musical movie alongside Julie Andrews – who starred as the titular Mary Poppins – but has admitted his fake accent wasn’t up to scratch, and none of the cast told him.
Speaking to the Observer newspaper, Dick said: "Someone should have told me I needed to work on my Cockney accent. Nearly everyone in the ‘Mary Poppins’ cast was a Brit but no one said anything.
"I was given an Irish coach whose Cockney was much better than mine. Years later I asked Julie [Andrews], "Why didn’t you tell me?" She said it was because I was working so hard."
The news comes as Disney plan to reboot the classic movie in the form of ‘Mary Poppins Returns’, which is set to be released in time for Christmas 2018 and will star Emily Blunt in the lead role.
Speaking about her casting, Emily said previously: "It is my dream.
"I mean, she’s such an iconic nostalgic figure for people. So it’s a gift to give to my kids that I get to be this generation’s Mary Poppins.
"We did an incredible workshop of the script a few weeks back. It’s so heart racing, so exciting. It’s a complete different re-imagining of the whole thing. And I’m scared and thrilled to be in it and it’s cool."
As of yet, the role of Bert has not been recast for the upcoming remake, but Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, and Ben Whishaw are also set to star.