Mark Dawson

Mark Richard Dawson (born 4 February 1960) is a British-American entertainment manager and CEO of Dawson, Reeves and Zutaut Entertainment Group (otherwise known as DRZ Entertainment Group), based in Los Angeles.[1]

For the English author, see Mark Dawson (writer). For the Australian rules footballer, see Mark Dawson (footballer).

Mark Dawson
Born
Mark Richard Dawson

(1960-02-04) 4 February 1960
London, England
OccupationEntertainment Business
Parent(s)Richard Dawson
Diana Dors
WebsiteDRZ Entertainment Group

Life and career

Dawson was born in London, the first son of the actor and game show host Richard Dawson and the actress Diana Dors.[2] A young Dawson appeared with his father on a few early episodes of Family Feud. He worked as an assistant to the producer Mark 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 Ives 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 Marx TV 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.[3]

Dawson manages the all-female tribute band The Iron Maidens, the cover band Crabby Patty and the all-female heavy metal band Phantom 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 various 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.[4] His stepfather Alan Lake supposedly knew the key that would crack the code, but when Lake committed suicide very soon after Dors' death, Dawson was left with an apparently unsolvable puzzle.[4]

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 (short for Diana Mary Fluck, Dors's real name).[4] 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 second page 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

Acting/appearances
  • Family Feud – Himself (select episodes)
  • Who Got Diana Dors' Millions – Himself

Discography

The Midnight Eyes
  • At the Roxy – (1980)

Phantom Blue

The Iron Maidens

References
  1. "The Diana Dors Story – The Star". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  2. Mark Dawson at the Internet Movie Database
  3. Cathy Hughart Dawson at the Internet Movie Database
  4. David Bret (October 2010). Diana Dors: Hurricane In Mink. JR Books, London. ISBN 1-907532-10-2.
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