Yeah, I thought he was already dead, too.
(Actually, my first thought was, “Woot! Dawkins died!”)
Always kind of liked Richard Dawson, even though he had that impossible-to-bottle, intimidating “cold-warmth” so many successful game and talk show hosts have, from Parr and Carson to Bob Barker (and I’d include Martha Stewart.)
It makes contestants/guest want the host to like them/go easy on them, because you think the guy might turn on you any second, like a dog that’s only half tamed.
Weirdly enough, I can still sort of remember him meeting his future wife, when she was a Family Feud contestant. He flirted with every female contestant, of course, but it was obvious to everybody, even a kid like me, that something more was going on there.
