- This article is about the actor and game show host Richard Dawson. For the cricketer, please see Richard Dawson (cricketer)
| Richard Dawson |
|
|
|
| Statistics |
| Occupation |
Actor, Comedian,
Game show host and panelist |
| Spouse |
Diana Dors (1959–1966); divorced
Gretchen Johnson (1991-present) |
| Children |
Mark (b. 1960)
Gary (b. 1962)
Shannon Nicole (b. 1990) |
| Notable credit(s) |
Cpl. Peter Newkirk in Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971)
Frequent panelist on Match Game
Family Feud host
(1976–1985; 1994–1995) |
|
Richard Dawson (born November 20, 1932) is a
British-born American actor, comedian, game show panelist and host.
He is best known for his role as Bob Crane's British non-commissioned officer, Corporal Peter
Newkirk, on the World War II situation comedy
Hogan's Heroes, and as the original host of the Family Feud game show from 1976–1985 on ABC and
again in 1994. Dawson also appeared as a panelist on Gene Rayburn's revamped
1970s version of Match Game on CBS, from 1973–1978.
Early life to 1973
Dawson was born in Gosport, England, as Colin Emm. At the
age of 14, he ran away from home to join the Merchant Marines, where he pursued a
boxing career. Having married British sex symbol
Diana Dors, Dawson moved to Los Angeles,
California, where he gained fame in the hit show Hogan's Heroes opposite
Bob Crane's character, as Cpl. Peter Newkirk. The war-related sitcom was one of the
highest-rated shows on television during its six-year run from 1965 to 1971. Dawson and Dors eventually divorced, and Dawson gained custody of both their children, Gary and Mark.
Immediately following the cancellation of Heroes, Dawson performed as a regular on the popular NBC variety show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In from 1971
to 1973, and would also be a regular on The New Dick Van Dyke Show
from 1973 to 1974. Dawson also appeared as a panelist on the 1972–73 syndicated revival of I've Got a Secret.
1973-1985
After Laugh-In left the airwaves in 1973, game show pioneer Mark Goodson signed Dawson to appear as a regular on Match Game
'73. 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 gameplayer and was the frequent choice of
contestants for the "Head-to-Head Match" portion of the show's bonus round, in which the contestant and Dawson had to obtain an
exact match to the requested prompt.
In a classic episode of Match Game 77, he and fellow panelist Debralee Scott
revolted when their answer "Finishing School" did not match the answer "school" in the judges' mind; thus sparking the "School
Riot".
In 1975, Dawson was hired by Goodson to emcee an upcoming project entitled Family
Feud which debuted in the summer of 1976 on ABC's daytime
schedule. Unlike his flop in 1974 with Masquerade Party, Family Feud
became a breakout hit (particularly the syndicated nighttime version), eventually surpassing the ratings of Match Game in
late 1977. In 1978 he left Match Game but won a Daytime Emmy Award for Best
Game Show Host for his work on Family Feud. After Dawson became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1984, he showed his
passport and photo during the introduction of an episode of Family Feud. He continued hosting the Feud until the show was canceled in 1985.
1985-present
Dawson parodied his TV persona by co-starring in the action movie The Running
Man in 1987 as evil, egotistical, dark-sided game-show host Damon Killian. Of Dawson's performance, film critic
Roger Ebert wrote, "Playing a character who always seems three-quarters drunk, Dawson
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 movie's private joke."[1]
Dawson hosted an unsold pilot for a revival of the classic game show
You Bet Your Life in 1988. In the fall of 1994, he returned to Family Feud, replacing Ray Combs for what became the final season of the
show's official second run (1988–1995). He was considered for the current version of Family Feud, but elected not to
host.
Dawson currently resides in Beverly Hills, California, with his wife since
1991, Gretchen (Johnson) Dawson, whom he met when she was a contestant on Family Feud in 1981. They have a daughter,
Shannon Nicole Dawson (born in 1990). Richard also has three grandchildren: Lindsay Dors Dawson, Tyler Emm Dawson, and Emma Rose
Dawson.
- Dawson had been friends with Bill Bixby since 1968, appearing on an episode of
The Dating Game. Four years later, Bixby appeared with Dawson in a pilot of a
game show that hasn't been aired, Cop-Out, and two game shows such as:
Password and Masquerade
Party, where Bixby was the panelist and Dawson served as host.
- According to Werner Klemperer, Dawson and Bob
Crane were like oil and water. Klemperer told "E! Hollywood Story" that there "was no love lost between the two".
Ironically, Dawson had introduced Crane to John Carpenter, the former video camera salesman who was later implicated in Crane's
murder in 1978.
- In 2006, Brett Somers told the Game Show
Network (GSN) that many of the Match Game personnel were "relieved" when Dawson quit
the show in 1978. Dawson was annoyed that a "star" wheel was added to select celebrities, as most contestants would choose him 3
to 1 over the other five panelists prior to the wheel's addition (in fact, he himself admitted that he took the addition of the
wheel as, as he put it, "a direct slight"). Richard had already been starring as host of Family Feud on ABC prior to
leaving MG and had been trying to quit MG in order to focus on his "Feud" duties. Producers initially didn't want to release him
from his contract. Because of this, in later years of MG, Dawson could be seen wearing large, dark sunglasses, speaking in a
quiet, raspy voice, or otherwise looking like he was sulking and didn't want to participate.
- Dawson had a small role in King Rat (1965 film). As Paratrooper Captain Weaver, Dawson makes a dramatic entrance near the movie's end, signaling the liberation
of captives from a World War II POW camp.
- Dawson was mentioned in the Wu-Tang Clan song "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta F' Wit" in
the line "I'm causin' more family feuds than Richard Dawson"
External links
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