Richard Dawson Passes At 79 [VIDEO]

I really enjoy watching old episodes of Match Game 74 on the Game Show Network. I look forward to hearing Richard call someone a hamburger. Richard Dawson was clearly the most popular celebrity on the show. The famed TV personality passed away from complications due to cancer Saturday evening at Ronald Reagan Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles.

It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my father passed away this evening from complications due to esophageal cancer," Dawson's son Gary posted on Facebook.

According to Eonline, He was surrounded by his family. He was an amazing talent, a loving husband, a great dad and a doting grandfather. He will be missed but always remembered." Dawson, who began his career in show business as a stand-up comedian in London, appeared on a variety of shows such as Steve Allen and The Dick Van Dyke Show, but it was his role as a cockney prisoner of war named Capt. Peter Newkirk on Hogan's Heroes that really introduced him to American audiences. Post Hogan's Heroes fame, Dawson went on to host Family Feud from 1976-1985 and then again from 1994-1995.

Here is the most controversal episode of Match Game that was actually banned from television in 1974.