Dick Van Dyke has no regrets about not starring in The Omen.

The 99-year-old actor was offered the part of Ambassador Robert Thorn in the 1976 horror classic but he wasn't interested in such dark material.

Speaking during Vandy High Tea - a charity event at his home in Malibu to raise money for The Van Dyke Endowment of the Arts and the Dick Van Dyke Museum - he said: "I could have done The Omen that Gregory Peck did.

"I didn't want to do that kind of movie. It just didn't fit my taste somehow."

But one thing the Mary Poppins star does regret is turning down an unspecified project with Cary Grant.

He said: "One thing I regret: [declining a movie with] Cary Grant … He was the best looking guy in the world, and I just liked the way he dressed and acted and everything … We got to be good friends.

"He asked me to do a movie with him, and I can't remember why I said no -- and doggone it!" he recalled.

Dick also "never forgave" his agent after he missed out on workig with Sophia Loren.

He quipped: "I'm still mad about that!

""My agent called me one day, and he said, 'I had a call from Sophia Loren's manager, she wants to do a movie with you.'

"And I said something like, 'When do we start?' He says, 'Well, I turned it down." I said, "What?' He said, 'Well, you would've had to take second billing.' I said, "I don't care if they mention my name!" I said. 'I would've paid them!'

"I never forgave him for that. He turned down a movie with Sophia Loren. Can you believe that? I didn't even get to meet her."

Dick credited late stage legend Chita Rivera for igniting his career after their Broadway production Bye Bye Birdie in 1960 led to him landing his own eponymous Dick Van Dyke Show.

He said: "I think she is the best thing that ever stepped foot on a stage. She was incredible, strong. I got that part, [but] I didn't sing or dance, and she is such a strong dancer. She just made me look good … I won a Tony, didn't I?

"We were in Philadelphia, where you do performances but you're still trying out things and rewriting and everything.

"One day, the writers came down with a new song for Chita and she said, 'You know, Dick doesn't have anything to do in the first act. Why don't you give it to him?' It was 'Put On a Happy Face,' which started my career … She saved my life.

"That was my song, and it got me a series. That's how good a lady she was. Boy, I loved that lady."