Richard Dawson

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This article is about the actor and game show host Richard Dawson. For others, see Richard Dawson (disambiguation).

Richard Dawson aka 'The Kissing Bandit'^[1](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 in syndication, and again in syndication from 1994 to 1995, replacing Ray Combs. Dawson also appeared as a panelist on the 1970s version of Match Game on CBS, from 1973–1978.

[edit] Early life to 1973

Richard Dawson was born as Colin Lionel Emm in Gosport, Hampshire, England. At the age of 14, he ran away from home to join the Merchant Marines, where he pursued a boxing career. After his discharge, he pursued a comedy career, using the stage name "Dickie Dawson;" when he reached adulthood, he revised this to become "Richard Dawson," which name he would later officially legalize and by which name he would thus be known for the rest of his life. In the course of his career in comedy, Dawson is known to have played the Palladium Theater in London. The other venues where he plied his comedy trade are not known.

Having married British sex symbol Diana Dors, Dawson moved to Los Angeles, California, where he gained fame in the hit show Hogan's Heroes as Cpl. Peter Newkirk, opposite Bob Crane's lead character. The war-related sitcom was one of the highest-rated shows on television during its six-year run from 1965 to 1971. Earlier, in 1963, a svelte, dapper young Dawson had appeared in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show in the role of Brit entertainer "Racy Tracy" Rattigan. In 1965, Dawson had a small role at the end of the film King Rat, starring George Segal, playing a 1st recon paratrooper, Capt. Weaver, sent to free allied POW's in a Japanese camp. In 1967, Dawson released a psychedelic 45rpm single including the songs "His Children's Parade" and "Apples & Oranges" on Carnation Records. Dawson was also in the movie The Devil's Brigade, as Private Hugh McDonald, in 1968. Dawson and Dors eventually divorced, which left Dawson emotionally demolished, even though he 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.

[edit] 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 "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 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's minds; thus sparking the "School Riot."

Dawson hosted a one-season syndicated revival of Masquerade Party in 1974; the program featured regular panelists Bill Bixby, Lee Meriwether, and Nipsey Russell. Produced by Monty Hall and Stefan Hatos, the program was not popular enough to warrant a second season.

Richard Dawson (host) and contestants from the 1976-1985 original version of "Family Feud," his greatest professional success.

In 1975, during his tenure as one of Match Game's regular panelists, Dawson was hired by Mark Goodson to host an upcoming project titled Family Feud, which debuted on July 12, 1976 on ABC's daytime schedule. Unlike his flop 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 and won a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Game Show Host for his work on Family Feud. One of his trademarks, kissing all the female contestants, was one of the things that made the show appear to be a warm and friendly program.^[2] However, Dawson was actually not averse to insulting contestants or sparking controversy, a fact which tended to escape references to the program. 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 for nine years until both editions were canceled, the ABC edition on June 14, 1985 and the syndicated edition on September 13, 1985.

[edit] 1985-present

Dawson parodied his TV persona in 1987 by co-starring in the action movie The Running Man, based on one of Stephen King's novels under the pen-name Richard Bachman, in which he acted out the 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 that was to air on NBC in 1988, but the network declined to pick up the show. On September 12, 1994, he returned to the syndicated edition of Family Feud, replacing Ray Combs for what became the final season of the show's official second run (1988–1995). The final episode aired on September 8, 1995. He was considered for the current version of Family Feud, but elected to retire instead of accepting the offer to host.

Upon his retirement, Dawson took up residence in Beverly Hills, California with his wife since 1991, Gretchen (Johnson) Dawson, whom he met when she was a member of one of the contestant families 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.

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• 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 game show pilot produced by Chuck Barris, Cop-Out, as well as Password and Masquerade Party.

• According to Werner Klemperer, one of his castmates from Hogan's Heroes, Dawson and Bob Crane were like oil and water. Klemperer told The E! True 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, the year before she died, Brett Somers told 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 Match Game and had been trying to quit Match Game in order to focus on his Feud duties. Producers were initially reluctant to release him from his contract, and because of this, in later years of Match Game, Dawson could be seen wearing large, dark sunglasses, speaking in a quiet, raspy voice, or otherwise looking like he was sulking and had no wish to participate.

• Dawson had a small role in King Rat. 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 impersonated by actor Michael E. Rodgers in the 2002 film Auto Focus.

• 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/And the survey says: Ya Dead!"

• Dawson was featured in a Sesame Street parody of Family Feud called "Family Food".^[3]

• Dawson had appeared alongside veteran game show host Bill Cullen on Match Game and Tattletales. Cullen also appeared on Dawson's Family Feud, as a guest on Game Show Week in 1983, and helped win money for his team.

[edit] References

1. ^ Richard Dawson (I) - Biography
2. ^ Richard Dawson (I) - Biography
3. ^ Family Food: Richard Dawson and Sesame Street http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59XwHQcyBjQ

[edit] External links

• Richard Dawson at the Internet Movie Database