Dawson was born in London, the first son of the actor and game show host Richard Dawson and the actress Diana Dors. 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. Mark Dawson married Eleidys Carrasco September 2019 in Colombia. Together they have a daughter named Victoria Dawson born on her paternal grandmother's birthday, 23 October 2018.^{[citation needed]}

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.

Mother's alleged 'missing millions' edit

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.^[2] His stepfather Alan Lake supposedly knew the key that would crack the code, but when Lake died by suicide very soon after Dors' death, Dawson was left with an apparently unsolvable puzzle.^[2]

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).^[2] 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.^[3][4]

Production edit

• Concentration – production assistant, editorial staff, rebus writer, assistant contestant coordinator (1976–1977)
• Match Game – editorial staff (1976)
• Tattletales – editorial staff (1976)
• The Better Sex – music coordinator (1977)
• Family Feud – editorial staff (1977–1985); creative consultant (1994–1995)
• The Price Is Right – showcase writer (1977)
• Card Sharks – music coordinator, production assistant (1978)
• Nudity Required – associate producer (1988)
• You Bet Your Life – associate producer (1988)
• Auto Focus – technical advisor (2002)
• The Iron Maidens Live at Galaxy Theater – director (2007)

Acting/appearances edit

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

The Midnight Eyes edit

• At the Roxy – (1980)

Phantom Blue edit

• Caught...Live! – producer (1997)
• Full Blown – producer (1998)

The Iron Maidens edit

• World's Only Female Tribute to Iron Maiden – co-producer (2005)
• Route 666 – co-Producer (DVD) (2007)
• The Root of All Evil – co-Producer (2008)
• Metal Gathering Tour 2010 – Japan – co-Producer (2010)

• DRZ Entertainment Group
• Mark Dawson at IMDb
• Mark Dawson Biography