Richard Dawson Dies at 79

[Butterfly]

Family Feud' TV host Richard Dawson dies at 79




FILE - In this May 8, 1978 file photo, Richard Dawson, foreground, is in his familiar role as host of "Family Feud" when the casts of ABC's comedy series "Eight is Enough," "The Love Boat," "Soap," and "Three's Company" compete to benefit charity. 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. AP Photo, File








The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- 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.

Read more here: 'Family Feud' TV host Richard Dawson dies at 79 - People Wires - MiamiHerald.com

[BITTER]

I didn't even know that he was sick. How sad.

[Seth82]

wow...

I don't know he was sick either

[Laurent]

Oh, no. I loved him, especially on Match Game. That show was so fun to watch. And on Family Feud - they don't make hot kissing game show hosts anymore.

[LynnieD]

Fucking loved this dude. Especially on Match Game. My husband loved him on Hogan's Hero's. So many funny memories of him on various shows.....great times in the 70's & 80's.

RIP Richard. Go kiss some angels now.


Edit: some of the comments on Twitter are hilarious (as usual). He is being referred to as the original PIMP!

[Fly_On_TheWall]

He was great in Running Man. R.I.P.

[SHELLEE]

Yep, I loved him on match game too. Rip Richard.

[msdeb]

my mom had the biggest crush on him when he was on Hogans Heroes. RIP

[MohandasKGanja]

"Our survey says.....(Ding!).....'Rest in Peace'!!!"

[Kathie_Moffett]

That "survey SAYS!" line is immortal. But he was hilarious on Match Game too....man that show was so twisted sometimes.

I had no idea he was married to Diana Dors! Wow.

Love this funny guy, so sorry to see him go.

[LynnieD]

That "survey SAYS!" line is immortal. But he was hilarious on Match Game too....man that show was so twisted sometimes.
I had no idea he was married to Diana Dors! Wow.

Love this funny guy, so sorry to see him go.

That show is iconic in my head. You can tell the episodes that were taped after 'dinner' (liquid). Such great chemistry & banter between the regulars. I watch it every chance I get on GSN.

*runs off to see if they are playing a marathon today in his honor*

[angelais]

I never watch Family Feud after he quit hosting the show.

RIP....

[faithanne]

For a minute I thought this was the atheist dude.

[heart_leigh]

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 seemed to enjoy the kissing as part of his job. Anyhoo, RIP.

[holly]

I thought he died years ago by suicide.
Now I don't know who I must have confused him with!