Barbara Bain Says She Pulled from Childhood Softball Games When Pelting Dick Van Dyke with a Vase in 1963 (Exclusive)

Angela AndaloroThu, June 18, 2026 at 5:14 PM UTC

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Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke and Barbara Bain, 1962Credit: CBS via Getty -

Barbara Bain believes that all her life experience has informed the different characters she's played and the productions she's worked on

The actress and director, 94, tells PEOPLE about some of her career's most memorable moments

Among the highlights she shared, Bain recalls working with Dick Van Dyke on The Dick Van Dyke Show

Barbara Bain had the pleasure of working with some amazing talent throughout her career.

In a recent catch-up with PEOPLE, Bain looked back at some of her most memorable costars.

"I did work on one thing with Walter Matthau, and we never could get the work done because he was so funny. He'd get up out of a chair, and we'd laugh," the Mission: Impossible actress, 94, tells PEOPLE.

"Whatever he did was funny, and we could not keep working, and then we'd have to stop. 'Cut! Okay, let's start again.' And he didn't do it on purpose. He was just funny."

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Martin Landau and Barbara Bain sit behind Dick Van Dyke and first wife, MargieCredit: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Another favorite costar was the iconic Dick Van Dyke. Bain knew him from the Hollywood community, but got the chance to appear on The Dick Van Dyke Show in 1963.

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"Dick Van Dyke was just amazing to work with. When I did one of the shows, I had to throw, I don't know how many, breakaway vases. They're made to fall apart. I play his ex-girlfriend, and he comes and tells me he's going to marry Mary [Tyler Moore] and say goodbye," she recalled.

"It was an interesting line. You had to understand why he was even with her to begin with, and then you had to be glad that he's leaving her," she says. "So that was in there. It was shot live in front of an audience. We never rehearsed throwing the thing, but I did tell Dick that when I was a kid, the boys let me pitch softball to them."

She continues, "Now that was big in the sandlot. We were on empty lots in Chicago, playing baseball, and the boys let me pitch. I said, 'So I'm trying to tell you, I have really good aim, and I won't hurt you.' And I didn't."

Dick Van Dyke and Barbara Bain during her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in 2016Credit: David Livingston/Getty

When it came time for it, Bain knew, "We didn't have doubles on the cases, so I had to get it right. And I did. So, pitching to the boys when I was a kid helped me. Every little scrap of life helps, is what I'm saying."

Of the experience, Bain laughed, asking, "How could you not love Dick Van Dyke and getting a chance to even be on the stage with him? How could you not just value that for the rest of your life?"

"I keep in touch with Dick still. We say hello and giggle a bit now and again," she happily concluded.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”