MARY POPPINS - MARY POPPINS STAR IS SECRET ANIMATION GEEK

MARY POPPINS STAR IS SECRET ANIMATION GEEK

MARY POPPINS star DICK VAN DYKE ha been keeping a secret from his fans - he's one of America's top animators. The 80-year-old actor has never turned his hobby into a career, despite getting several offers to give up acting and work for leading studios - and he boasts a home-computer animation studio to die for. Van Dyke says, "It started out as a hobby about 15 years ago when they first came out with a little machine that would actually do animation. "I've been doing it ever since and now I have a room full of equipment with a green screen and I'm struggling to keep up with the technology. It's an addiction. "It is so much fun and I've done pretty good. I've actually been offered a job as an animator, but I realised that the minute there's a deadline, the fun is over, so I turned it down. "I've got some good stuff in there but I've never sold any of it or even showed it."