Gangly American character comedian, younger brother of Dick Van Dyke, in whose shadow he has generally dwelt. This may be as much because of a similarity in their character types as it is due to their strong resemblance to each other. A talented comic type, Jerry has generally played a more stupid, goofy variation on Dick's role, such as in "The Dick Van Dyke Show", in which he played the brother of Dick's character. Van Dyke appeared intermittently on a number of television series, none of them especially successful (e.g. "My Mother the Car" 1965-66) until he added many a yuk to "Coach" (ABC, 1989-97), as Luther, the loyal but often clueless assistant football coach.
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