Richard-Dawson-Obituary

Richard Dawson

Obituary

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show "Family Feud" has died. He was 79.

Dawson, also known to TV fans as the Cockney POW Cpl. Peter Newkirk on "Hogan's Heroes," died Saturday night from complications related to esophageal cancer at Ronald Reagan Memorial hospital, his son Gary said.

The game show, which initially ran from 1976 to 1985, pitted families who tried to guess the most popular answers to poll questions such as "What do people give up when they go on a diet?"

Dawson won a daytime Emmy Award in 1978 as best game show host. Tom Shales of The Washington Post called him "the fastest, brightest and most beguilingly caustic interlocutor since the late great Groucho bantered and parried on 'You Be Your Life.'" The show was so popular it was released as both daytime and syndicated evening versions.

He was known for kissing each woman contestant, and at the time the show bowed out in 1985, executive producer Howard Felsher estimated that Dawson had kissed "somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000."

"I kissed them for luck and love, that's all," Dawson said at the time.

He reprised his game show character in a much darker mood in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film "The Running Man," playing the host of a deadly TV show set in a totalitarian future, where convicts try to escape as their executioners stalk them. "Saturday Night Live" mocked him in the 1970s, with Bill Murray portraying him as leering and nasty, even slapping one contestant (John Belushi) for getting too fresh.

The British-born actor already had gained fame as the fast-talking Newkirk in "Hogan's Heroes," the CBS comedy about prisoners in a Nazi POW camp who hoodwink their captors and run the place themselves.

Despite its unlikely premise, the show made the ratings top 10 in its first season, 1965-66, and ran until 1971.

Both "Hogan's Heroes" and "Family Feud" have had a second life in recent years, the former on DVD reissues and the latter on GSN, formerly known as the Game Show Network.

On Dawson's last "Family Feud" in 1985, the studio audience honored him with a standing ovation, and he responded: "Please sit down. I have to do at least 30 minutes of fun and laughter and you make me want to cry."

"I've had the most incredible luck in my career," he told viewers.

"I never dreamed I would have a job in which so many people could touch me and I could touch them," he said. That triggered an unexpected laugh.

Producers brought out "The New Family Feud," starring comedian Ray Combs, in 1988. Six years later, Dawson replaced Combs at the helm, but that lasted only one season.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Dawson was born Colin Lionel Emm in 1932 in Gosport, England. His first wife was actress Diana Dors, the blond bombshell who was Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe.


Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Guest Book

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RICHARD DAWSON! The One & Only Beloved Human Being Who Gave Us So Much Love & Warmth. A "Genuine", "Kind-hearted" "Gem". Who Made Us Laugh & Brought Us So Much "Joy" Into Our "Lives!" And Drew Us In With His "Wittiness & "Charm". And Those "Gorgeous Eyes" & "Smile". SOOOO "Handsome!" I Loved Watching You On "Family Feud" & "Match Game". WOW!! Even Won A...

R.I.P. RICHARD DAWSON LOVED YOUR SHOWS ALL THE TIME GROWING UP IN THE 70s & 80s

Richard, thank you for Corporal Peter Newkirk! Such a handsome, charming, complex, and classy individual who makes the whole show for me! It saddens me to know youre no longer with us, but I hope that perhaps I shall meet you in heaven!
You were such a loving, caring, generous gentlemen are missed greatly!
-From a remedial case; a young lady who has a serious crush on Peter Newkirk

6/2/2020
Richard,
Its been 8 years uve been gone, but surely not forgotten. Still making us laugh & smile with ur infectious humor & laugh on Match Game, Family Feud & Hogans Heros every day...like u never left. Everyone whose life u touched still loves & misses you dearly. Much love to the Brit with the wit, & unmatched charisma & charm. Sending u a kiss. Kate, Nashua, NH.

In loving memory of a wonderful person. We will love you and miss you always.

Richard was one of the best of Game Show Hosts and was a real charmer who won the love of America for his genuine love of people. It has been nice knowing you - even if on the TV screen and I am looking forward to developing a lasting friendship when you return in the resurrection. May Jehovah continue to smile on you.

I enjoyed watching him on match game in the 70s. My he rest in peace. Gregory Pinkston.

Rest In Peace

I love you and still keep your memory alive...YOU ARE MISSED