"I have a secret that shows — I'm beginning to look like Dick Van Dyke," Mary Tyler Moore said in a 1965 interview with the Sunday News.

Working side by side with a comedian like Dick Van Dyke can start to rub off on a person—especially someone like Moore, who had a deep respect and close bond with her co-star.

She admired his funny tone and facial expressions, and soon, she found herself doing the same thing. However, according to the interview, it was mostly by accident.

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"When Dick makes a particularly funny face, I can feel myself imitating him," Moore said. "We even have pictures of ourselves, taken off guard, where we're in the same pose, with exactly the same expression on our faces."

Van Dyke was the undeniable leader of The Dick Van Dyke Show. With his easy charm and magnetic presence, it’s no surprise people around him found themselves copying him—whether they meant to or not. Successful, funny, and always fashionable, he made it look effortless. Moore even started to stand the same way he did without realizing it.

She’d occasionally catch herself and adjust, but by then, the two had started to become carbon copies of each other. Life imitates art, and in this case, art imitated Dick Van Dyke.

"Actually, I think it comes from my vast admiration for Dick's talents," Moore said. "He has a fantastic feeling for comedic movement, gestures, and facial expressions. I respect his work so much, I subconsciously imitate it."

When Moore first joined The Dick Van Dyke Show, she had little experience in comedy. She was a small fish in Van Dyke's big comedy pond. But the best way to learn is to do—and to watch. Moore did both, learning from one of the best in the business.

She initially thought all she needed to succeed in comedy was motivation. But she quickly discovered that comedy involves far more than just enthusiasm. Timing, expression, and physical movement all played a role in her role on the series.

"These were all things I had to learn," Moore said. "And in Dick Van Dyke, I've had one of the best performers in the business to learn from. Notice I don't say he taught me. I learned from him. I've absorbed what I could of his technique."

"I consider myself fantastically lucky that I've had Dick to work with," she continued. "So, it's a small wonder that I look like Dick, my television mate. I couldn't have a better model."