Dawson was born in London, the first son of the actor and game show hostRichard Dawson and the actressDiana Dors. A young Dawson appeared with his father on a few early episodes of Family Feud. He worked as an assistant to the producerMark Goodson and as a showcase and question writer for The Price Is Right, Concentration, The Better Sex, Match Game and Family Feud. He was once introduced by his father on an episode of Family Feud to promote his band The Midnight Eyes and had an appearance with Ronnie Mars on Dinah!. He served as a creative consultant of the latter show's second run, with his father as host from 1994 to 1995. Dawson was also an associate producer at Rastar Productions and at NBC for You Bet Your Life, a remake based on a Groucho MarxTV program from the 1950s that his father's production company produced in the 1980s. In 2001, he was hired by Paul Schrader as a technical advisor for the movie Auto Focus. In March 1979, Dawson married Cathy Hughart, an assistant producer on his father's Family Feud show. "I could not have chosen a classier spouse for my son or a more wonderful person than Cathy," Richard Dawson said. The two later divorced. Dawson manages the all-female tribute bandThe Iron Maidens, the cover bandCrabby Patty and the all-female heavy metal bandPhantom Blue. Drummer Linda McDonald is a member of all three bands. In 2008, with Brad and Tom Zutaut, he developed a tribute bands television show for New Wave Entertainment.
His mother’s alleged 'missing millions'
Diana Dors allegedly claimed to have hidden away more than £2 million in banks across Europe. In 1982, allegedly she gave Dawson a sheet of paper on which, she told him, was a code that would reveal the whereabouts of the money. His stepfather Alan Lake supposedly knew the key that would crack the code, but as he had committed suicide soon after her death, Dawson was left with an apparently unsolvable puzzle. He sought out computer forensic specialists Inforenz, who recognised the encryption as the Vigenère cipher. Inforenz then used their own cryptanalysis software to suggest a ten-letter decryption key, DMARYFLUCK. With the aid of a bank statement found among Alan Lake's papers, Inforenz was then able to decode the existing material to reveal a list of surnames and towns only – suggesting that there must be a second page that would reveal first names and bank details, to complete the message. As this has never come to light, no money has ever been traced. In 2003, Channel 4 made a television programme about the mystery.
Selected filmography
Production
Concentration – production assistant, editorial staff, rebus writer, assistant contestant coordinator
Match Game – editorial staff
Tattletales – editorial staff
The Better Sex – music coordinator
Family Feud – editorial staff ; creative consultant
