Richard Dawson (born Colin Lionel Emm; 20 November 1932 â€" 2 June
2012) was an English-American actor, comedian, game show host and
panelist in the United States. Dawson was well known for playing
Corporal Peter Newkirk in Hogan's Heroes, as a regular panelist on
Match Game (1973â€"1978) and as the original host of Family Feud
(1976â€"1985 and 1994â€"1995).Colin Lionel Emm was born in Gosport,
Hampshire, England, on 20 November 1932 to Arthur Emm (born 1897) and
Josephine Lucy (née Lindsay) Emm (born 1903). His father drove a
moving van and his mother worked in a munitions factory. He and his
brother, John Leslie Emm, who was five years older, were evacuated as
children during World War II to escape the bombing of England's major
port cities in the south. In a radio interview with Hogan's Heroes
co-star Bob Crane, Dawson recounted how this experience severely
limited his school attendance, stating that he attended school
regularly for only two years.At age 14, he ran away from home to join
the British Merchant Navy where he pursued a career in boxing, earning
almost $5,000 in shipboard matches. During 1950 and 1951, he made
several passages on the RMS Mauretania from Southampton to ports of
call including Nassau, The Bahamas; Havana; and New York. Following
his discharge from the merchant service, Emm began pursuing a comedy
career utilizing the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached
adulthood, he revised his alias to Richard Dawson, the name which he
later legally adopted.
2012) was an English-American actor, comedian, game show host and
panelist in the United States. Dawson was well known for playing
Corporal Peter Newkirk in Hogan's Heroes, as a regular panelist on
Match Game (1973â€"1978) and as the original host of Family Feud
(1976â€"1985 and 1994â€"1995).Colin Lionel Emm was born in Gosport,
Hampshire, England, on 20 November 1932 to Arthur Emm (born 1897) and
Josephine Lucy (née Lindsay) Emm (born 1903). His father drove a
moving van and his mother worked in a munitions factory. He and his
brother, John Leslie Emm, who was five years older, were evacuated as
children during World War II to escape the bombing of England's major
port cities in the south. In a radio interview with Hogan's Heroes
co-star Bob Crane, Dawson recounted how this experience severely
limited his school attendance, stating that he attended school
regularly for only two years.At age 14, he ran away from home to join
the British Merchant Navy where he pursued a career in boxing, earning
almost $5,000 in shipboard matches. During 1950 and 1951, he made
several passages on the RMS Mauretania from Southampton to ports of
call including Nassau, The Bahamas; Havana; and New York. Following
his discharge from the merchant service, Emm began pursuing a comedy
career utilizing the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached
adulthood, he revised his alias to Richard Dawson, the name which he
later legally adopted.
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