- The English-American actor and game show presenter had a disastrous marriage before launching his career.
- His first marriage to his first wife ended in divorce within a decade.
- Dawson spent the last two decades of his life happily married after living a single life for decades.
With the development of Match Game and Family Feud in the 1970s and 1980s, Richard Dawson became a household name. However, the English-American actor and game show presenter had a disastrous marriage before launching his career. His first marriage to his first wife ended in divorce within a decade.
Dawson spent the last two decades of his life happily married after living a single life for decades. Do you want to learn more about late actor Richard Dawson’s wife and marriage? We’re looking into both of his marriages in great detail here. Let’s not forget about his children.
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Dawson, Richard Diana Dors, His Wife, and Their Children
Richard Dawson and his first wife, Diana Dors, were married for about nine years in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Dors was an English singer and actress. On April 12, 1959, Dawson married Dors.
Meanwhile, Dawson was previously married to Dennis Hamilton before marrying Dawson.
Her first spouse passed away on January 3, 1959.
Dors began dating Dawson shortly after her husband’s death, and they married within a few months.
Dawson and Dors had their first child, a son named Mark Dawson,
on February 4, 1960, just a year after their wedding.
Two years later, on June 27, 1962, the couple became parents for the second time when their son, Gary Dawson, was born.
Dawson and Dors ended their relationship in April 1967, nearly eight years after they exchanged vows.
In April, they formalized their divorce in Los Angeles.
Following the divorce, Dawson was granted exclusive custody of their two children.
Diana Dors, Richard Dawson’s first wife, remarried after their divorce.
Dors couldn’t stay unmarried long following her divorce from Dawson.
She dated Caxton Hall for a few months before marrying him on November 23, 1968.
The husband and wife had a peaceful marriage and had a kid, Jason Lake, together.
The actress died in 1984, leaving behind a loving family of three at Orchard Manor in Sunningdale, Berkshire.
Diana Dors’ Demise
Dors died as a result of meningitis in her final years
. In the meantime, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1982 and
underwent two procedures to remove the malignant tissue, but it reappeared.
She fell at her home near Windsor in early May 1984 due to severe stomach pains and was rushed to BMI Princess Margaret Hospital in Windsor.
She died on May 4th, at the age of 52, from ovarian cancer. She was laid to rest in Sunningdale Catholic Cemetery.
Richard Dawson’s First Date With His Second Wife
After his divorce from his first wife, Richard Dawson remained single for more than two decades.
Dawson concentrated on his film and television careers during those long years.
Richard rose to prominence in the early 1970s after appearing on the television panel game show Match Game.
Dawson’s fame prompted him to launch his own game show, Family Feud, in the late 1970s.
Dawson was well-known on Family Feud for kissing female participants,
earning him the moniker “The Kissing Bandit.”
The show’s first run ran until 1985, and at the conclusion, Dawson stated that he kissed the girls on the show for “love and luck.”
And the show’s host did find love and luck on the show.
Gretchen Johnson eventually married Richard Dawson this time.
Here’s a brief video clip in which Dawson discusses his first meeting
with Gretchen and how he went on to ask for her phone number.
Dawson also describes how he invited her to supper and
fed her a handful of items she would dislike for the rest of her life. Take a look at this:
His Second Marriage and Children
Following their encounter, Richard and Gretchen began dating, and in 1990,
they welcomed their first and only child, Shannon Nicole Dawson.
Dawson and Gretchen married in a modest wedding ceremony a year after they became parents.
Dawson was away from the public at the time, so his marriage to Johnson remained a secret for a long time.
Dawson began the second season of Family Feud in 1994.
Dawson revealed the birth of his daughter and exhibited a picture of her
when greeting a participant he met on Match Game years previously in the first episode of the show.
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Death of Richard Dawson
Dawson and Johnson’s decades-long marriage came to an end on June 2, 2012,
when Dawson died. Dawson breathed his last at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Gary Dawson, his son, confirmed his father’s death in a lengthy Facebook message.
“It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that my father died this evening
from complications related to esophageal cancer,” Gary wrote. Gary also mentioned his father.
“He was surrounded by his family. He was a gifted musician, a caring spouse,
a wonderful parent, and a devoted grandfather. He will be missed but never forgotten.”
Richard Dawson’s second wife, three children, and four grandchildren survive him.
Richard was laid to rest in Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
