BIOGRAPHY

Richard Dawson was born Collin Lionel Emm, in Gosport England, November 20, 1932. Unhappy in the poor town of Gosport, he ran away from home at the age of fourteen by lying about his age. He made a brief try at boxing, and his last fight left him with a broken nose. For a time he was employed as a waiter, than at 18 he auditioned for a theater company called The Barry O' Brien Players, and discovered a love for the stage. After two years of acting he got into a job as a stand up comedian & began a successful career as a comedian & impersonator, & then made an appearance at the Palladium. He began experimenting with differant stage names & finally arrived at Richard Dawson, and had his name legally changed to that. In the 1950's he was hired to work in a stage show with actress Diana Dors, and fell madly hopelessly in love, as he was quoted to have said. Richard & Diana were married April 12, 1959. They had two boys, Mark & Gary, & then moved to the United States in 1962. In 1964 Diana abandoned Richard and their two sons, they were separated for three years, then in 1967 they became officially divorced. Diana gave Richard full custody of Mark and Gary. Despite what Diana had done, Richard continued to send her flowers every year on her birthday, & always defended her. Between 1962-1965 his career varied. He co-hosted an LA. talk show as a night club comedian, and had parts on The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, & The Outer Limits. He also appeared in the film King Rat, & because of that he was asked to audition for the role of Hogan on the series Hogan's Heroes. Not able to sound American enough for the role, he was offered Newkirk instead. He wrote scripts for Hogan's Heroes, & appeared in the films The Devil's Brigade and Munster Go Home. He also made appearances on The Odd Couple, McCloud, & Love American Style, and became a regular on both Match Game & Laugh In, then in 1974 he hosted a game show called "Masquerade Party" which was everything but a hit. He made his debut on Family Feud in 1976, and it became one of the most popular game shows of all time, awarding Richard an Emmy. It's been said that once the cameras were off Richard & producer Mark Goodson were not on good terms. In 1981 Richard met 27 year old Gretchen Johnson, a contestant on Family Feud. They lived together for ten years until Gretchen gave birth to their daughter Shannon Nichole Dawson in 1990. The two were married the following year. He retired not long after his performance as the sadistic game show host Damon Killian in the 1987 film The Running Man. He was brought back to Family Feud in 1994-1995. He is now enjoying retirement in Beverly Hills, California.