To say that Richard Dawson is a legend among game show hosts is to put it mildly.  As the host of Family Feud, he became famous for multiple reasons, not the last of which was his hair.  He made a point to hug, kiss, or otherwise touch every female guest on the program, and some people estimate that he’s kissed 20,000 women just in the course of filming that show.  That’s no mean feat, to be sure.  Unfortunately, Dawson’s days of kissing are over; legendary game show host Richard Dawson is dead at age 79 after a battle with esophageal cancer.  He passed away at the Ronald Reagain UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, leaving behind his loving wife Gretchen Johnson (who he met on the Feud), two sons, a daughter, and five grandchildren.

Born in Great Britain as Colin Lionel Emm, the story of how Dawson ended up in America is an interesting one.  He ran away from home at age 14 to become a Merchant Marine.  After being discharged, he took up a stand-up comedy career as Dickie Dawson before settling on the name which he made famous.  The comedy career is what brought him to America, where he played a few roles in movies and did some TV guest spots before landing the role of Corporal Peter Newkirk on Hogan’s Heroes.  That role led to a couple of years on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, a few more TV roles, and then, eventually, to game shows, where he proved to be a popular guest on Match Game ’73 and I’ve Got A Secret.

Dawson’s friendship with producer Mark Goodson led him to his most famous role, the host of Family Feud from 1976-1985.  His last non-game show role was in 1987’s The Running Man, where he played satirical game show host/evil TV producer Damon Killian.

Tags: game show hosts, richard dawson, esophageal cancer, richard dawson dead at 79, richard dawson dead, richard dawson obituary, obituaries, television hosts, game show host richard dawson dead, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, UCLA, Family Feud, Family Feud host Richard Dawson dead, celebrities, unusual people, damon killian, Colin Lionel Emm

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]