Richard Dawson (born Colin Lionel Emm; 20 November 1932 - 2 June 2012) was a British-American actor and comedian, and a game show host and panelist in the United States. Dawson was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk on Hogan's Heroes, being the original host of the Family Feud game show from 1976-85, and from 1994-95, and a regular panelist on the 1970s version of Match Game on CBS from 1973-78. In 1984, he became an American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.

Early life

Dawson was born in Gosport, Hampshire, England, on 20 November 1932 to Arthur and Josephine Emm. At the age of 14 he ran away from home to join the British Merchant Navy, where he pursued a boxing career. After his discharge, two years later, in 1949, he was a demobbed 16 year old veteran. He began pursuing a comedy career using the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached adulthood, he revised this to become Richard Dawson, which he later legally adopted.

Career

Acting

On 8 January 1963, Dawson appeared in an episode of the Jack Benny Program, Season 13, Episode 15. Dawson is the audience member sitting next to Jack. He is almost unrecognizable because of the glasses and fake mustache. In 1963, Dawson appeared in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the role of dapper entertainer "Racy Tracy" Rattigan.

In 1964, he appeared in "The Invisibles", an episode of The Outer Limits and appeared (credited as Dick Dawson) in "Anyone For Murder?", a 1964 episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He played a soldier in the 1962 film The Longest Day.

In 1965, Dawson had a small role at the end of the film King Rat, starring George Segal, playing 1st Recon paratrooper Captain Weaver, sent to liberate allied POWs in a Japanese prison. Dawson had by then moved to Los Angeles, California. He gained fame in the television show Hogan's Heroes as Cpl. Peter Newkirk from 1965 to 1971. He had a minor role in Universal's Munster, Go Home! A year later, Dawson released a psychedelic 45 rpm single including the songs "His Children's Parade" and "Apples & Oranges" on Carnation Records. In 1968, Dawson was in the film The Devil's Brigade as Private Hugh McDonald. Following the cancellation of Hogan's Heroes, he was a regular joke-telling panelist on the short-lived syndicated revival of the game show Can You Top This? in 1970.

He was also a regular on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1971-73, and became a regular on The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1973-74). He portrayed a theater director in the first season of McCloud and was a panelist on the 1972-73 syndicated revival of I've Got a Secret. He played himself on an episode of The Odd Couple.

Game show hosting

After Laugh-In was cancelled in 1973, game show pioneer Mark Goodson signed Dawson to appear as a regular on Match Game '73, alongside Brett Somers, Charles Nelson Reilly, and host Gene Rayburn. Dawson, who had already served a year as panelist for Goodson's revival of I've Got a Secret, proved to be a solid and funny player and was the frequent choice of contestants for the "Head-To-Head Match" portion of the show's "Super-Match" bonus round, in which, after winning prize money in the "Audience Match" portion, the contestant and Dawson (or any celebrity the contestant chose) had to obtain an exact match to the requested fill-in-the-blank. During his time on Match Game he would occupy the bottom center seat.

In 1975, during his tenure as one of Match Game's regular panelists, Dawson was hired by Goodson to host an upcoming project titled Family Feud, which debuted on 12 July 1976 on ABC's daytime schedule. Family Feud was a breakout hit, eventually surpassing the ratings of Match Game in late 1977. In 1978, he left Match Game and won a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Game Show Host for his work on Family Feud.

One of Dawson's trademarks on Family Feud, kissing the female contestants, earned him the nickname The Kissing Bandit. Television executives repeatedly tried to get him to stop the kissing. After receiving criticism for the practice, he asked viewers to write in and vote on the matter. The mail response was 704 against and 14,600 in favor. On the 1985 finale Dawson explained that he kissed contestants for love and luck, something his mother did with Dawson himself as a child. Viewers complained when he kissed the cheeks of non-white women, and in a 2010 interview he defended his actions, saying that "It's very important to me that on Family Feud I could kiss all people... I kissed black women daily and nightly on Family Feud for 11 years, and the world didn’t come to an end, did it?"

In 1983, Dawson made an appearance on Mama's Family as himself, hosting an episode of Family Feud where the Harpers play as contestants (reuniting him with former Match Game co-panelists Betty White and Vicki Lawrence).

After Dawson became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1984 he proudly showed his passport and photo during the introduction of an episode of Family Feud. He continued hosting the Feud until both editions were canceled; the syndicated version ended on 17 May 1985, and the ABC Daytime edition on 14 June 1985.

Later years

Dawson parodied his TV persona in 1987 in The Running Man, in which he portrayed the evil, egotistical game-show host Damon Killian. Of Dawson's performance film critic Roger Ebert (who gave the film itself thumbs down) wrote, "Playing a character who always seems three-quarters drunk, he chain-smokes his way through backstage planning sessions and then pops up in front of the cameras as a cauldron of false jollity. Working the audience, milking the laughs and the tears, he is not really much different than most genuine game show hosts - and that's the film's private joke."

Dawson hosted an unsold pilot for a revival of the classic game show You Bet Your Life that was to air on NBC in 1988, but the network declined to pick up the show, which would go on to attempt two more failed revivals with hosts Buddy Hackett and Bill Cosby. On 12 September 1994, Dawson returned to the syndicated edition of Family Feud, replacing and succeeding Ray Combs for what became the final season of the show's official second run (1988-95).

Upon Dawson's return he received a standing ovation when he walked on set. Afterwards he said, "If you do too much of that, I won't be able to do a show for you because I'll cry." During the revival, he did not kiss the female contestants, because of a commitment he made to his young daughter only to kiss her mother. The final episode aired on May 26, 1995, after which Dawson officially retired. In 1999, he was asked to make a special appearance on the first episode of the current version of Family Feud, but decided to turn the offer down and have no further involvement with the show. In 2000, Dawson narrated TV's Funniest Game Show Moments on the Fox network.

Personal life and family

Upon retiring, Dawson took up residence in Beverly Hills, California, with his wife since 1991 (though he lived there since 1964), Gretchen Johnson (born September 22, 1955), whom he met when she was a member of one of the contestant families on Family Feud in the spring of 1981. They had a daughter, Shannon Nicole Dawson. Dawson announced this and showed a picture of his daughter in the first episode of his returning to the 1994 version of the Feud as he was greeting one of the contestants who happened to be a former contestant of his while he was a panelist on Match Game. The episode was featured on the 25th Anniversary of Family Feud as No. 14 on the Game Show Network's Top 25 Feud Moments.

He had two sons, Mark (born 1960) and Gary (born June 27, 1962), from his first marriage, to British actress Diana Dors, which ended in divorce. Dawson gained custody of both sons. He had four grandchildren.

Death

Dawson died at age 79 from complications of esophageal cancer in Los Angeles, California, on 2 June 2012 at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He was interred in Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles.

Memorials

On 7 June 2012, the Game Show Network aired a 4-hour special showing some of Dawson's greatest moments on Family Feud and on Match Game, including the first episode of Dawson's return season.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]