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Mr. T

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This article is about the actor. For other uses, see Mr. T (disambiguation).
File:Clubber lang3.jpg
Mr. T (right) as Clubber Lang in Rocky III.

Mr. T (born Fartman on May 21, 1952) is an American actor and former wrestler known for his roles as Sgt. Bosco "B.A." Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as boxer "Clubber Lang" in the 1982 film, Rocky III. He is also well-known for his distinctive Mohawk hairstyle and for wearing an extreme amount of gold jewelry.

Biography

Mr. T came from Chicago, and was the eleventh of twelve children; he and his four sisters and seven brothers grew up in the city's housing projects. He played football, studied martial arts, and won a scholarship to Prairie View A&M University, Texas, and majored in mathematics but was thrown out after a year. After that he went to a couple of small Chicago colleges on athletic scholarships. After leaving college he was a Military Policeman in the U.S. Army before trying out for the Green Bay Packers.[citation needed] His professional football career was ended when he suffered a knee injury.

For about 10 years, he was a bodyguard who provided additional security to such personalities as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson, Steve McQueen, and Diana Ross when they were in Chicago. He charged around $3,000 a day. His business card read, "Next to God, there is no greater protector than I".[citation needed]

In 1970, he changed his name by deed poll from "Laurence Tureaud" to "Laurence Tero" and then in 1980 to "Mr. T" so that people would have to address him as "Mr." It was while reading National Geographic magazine that he first saw the unusual hairstyle, which he would adapt as his trademark, on an African Mandinka warrior. He has said that adopting the style was a statement about his African heritage.

During his stint as a doorman, Mr. T would confiscate jewelry from disorderly people and wear it himself as a testament to how well he performed his job.[citation needed] At one point, his gold chains, rings, and bracelets were worth about $300,000. It took him about an hour to put it on, and most nights he cleaned it in an ultrasonic cleaner although some nights he slept in the chains "to see how my ancestors, who were slaves, felt." [1] Mr. T twice won the "World's Toughest Bouncer" contest on the TV series Games People Play starring Bryant Gumbel [2].

In 1986, Mr. T clear-cut a large number of trees from around his mansion in Lake Forest, Illinois explaining that he had allergies. This resulted in controversy with his neighbors and led several North Shore communities to enact ordinances making the removal of old growth trees illegal. He sold the mansion and moved to California shortly thereafter.

In 1995, Mr. T was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma cancer at the age of 43. The disease eventually went into remission.

In 2005, after seeing the effects of Hurricane Katrina, Mr. T announced he would never wear his chains again, saying they were "an insult to God"[citation needed], and donated clothing and money to Katrina victims.

A reality television show for TV Land, I Pity the Fool is scheduled to premiere October 11, 2006. The announced six-episode series finds him assisting those in need. [3]

As of 2006, Mr. T lives in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California. He is a born-again Christian.

Acting career

Hulk Hogan and Mr. T at the first WrestleMania

In 1982, Mr. T was spotted by Sylvester Stallone while taking part in "The World's Toughest Bouncer" contest with Lee Dittrich. His role in Rocky III was originally intended as just a few lines, but Stallone built up the part around the man. His catch phrase, "I pity the fool!" comes from the film, where he played a boxer facing Rocky Balboa in a match. When asked if he hated Rocky, his character replied, "I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool".

After losing out on the role of the title character's mentor in The Beastmaster, Mr. T appeared in another boxing film, Penitentiary 2, and in a cable television special, Bizarre, before accepting the role of B.A. in The A-Team.

In The A-Team, he played Sergeant B.A. (Bosco Albert or "Bad Attitude") Baracus, an ex-army commando on the run with three other members from the U.S. government "for a crime they didn't commit." When asked at a press conference whether he was as stupid as B.A. Baracus, he observed quietly, "It takes a smart guy to play dumb."

A Ruby-Spears produced cartoon called Mr. T premiered in 1983 on NBC. The Mister T cartoon starred Mr. T as himself, the owner of a gym where a group of gymnasts trained. He would help them with their training, but they would also help him solve mysteries and fight crime. Thirty episodes were produced.

In 1984, he made a motivational video called Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool. He gives helpful advice to children throughout the video; for example, he teaches them how to understand and appreciate their origins, how to dress fashionably without buying designer labels, how to make tripping up look like breakdancing, how to control their anger, and how to deal with peer pressure. The video is roughly one hour long, but contains 30 minutes of singing, either by the mob of children accompanying him, or by Mr. T himself. He sings "Treat Your Mother Right (Treat Her Right)," in which he enumerates the reasons why it is important to treat your mother right, and also raps a song about growing up in the ghetto and praising God. The raps in this video were written by Ice T[citation needed]. That same year he released a related rap album titled Mr. T's Commandments.

An issue of the Mr. T comic book

He entered the world of professional wrestling in 1985. He was Hulk Hogan's tag-team partner at the first WrestleMania. Hulk Hogan wrote in his autobiography that Mr. T endangered the main event of WrestleMania I between them and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff because when he arrived and security would not let his large entourage into the building, he threatened to walk out. Hogan claims he had to personally talk Mr. T into staying and performing. Piper has said that he and other fellow wrestlers resented Mr. T because he was an actor and had not paid his dues as a professional wrestler. Mr. T later took on Bob Orton in a boxing match on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC. This ultimately culminated in another boxing match against Roddy Piper at WrestleMania 2. He returned to the World Wrestling Federation as a special guest referee in 1987, before disappearing from the wrestling world. He reappeared as a special referee for a Hogan-Ric Flair match, seven years later in World Championship Wrestling, in October 1994.

Mr. T was once reported to be earning around $80,000 a week for his role in The A-Team and getting $15,000 for personal appearances, but by the end of the 1990s, he was appearing only in the occasional commercial, largely because of health problems. (In 1995, he was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma). He took small roles in several films, and frequently appears on the TBN Christian television network. He has appeared in commercials for MCI's 1-800-COLLECT collect-call service and on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He has also appeared in Comcast commercials during 2006, invoking his favorite four-letter word: "Don't be a culture fool!" and also appeared on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Album

File:MrTs-album-Commandments-1984.jpg
Album cover to Mr. T's Commandments.

Mr. T in 1984 released a rap album titled Mr. T's Commandments much in the same tone as his 1984 educational video which instructs children to stay in school and to stay away from drugs. This was later followed up by a second album, the same year titled Mr. T's Be Somebody (Or Be Somebody's Fool), which featured music from the video of the same name.

Singles

Year Title Album US UK
1984 "Mr. T's Commandments" Mr. T's Commandments 75 -

References in pop culture

  • Eddie Murphy's concert film Eddie Murphy Delirious features a gag in which Murphy performs an obscene homosexual monologue in Mr. T's voice. Its sequel, Eddie Murphy Raw, featured a monologue in which he claimed Mr. T was out to get him for the previous joke.
  • Mr. T is often referenced in The Simpsons and has even been a guest voice in the episode "Today I am A Klown".
  • He was featured in an episode of the animated children's TV show, Alvin and the Chipmunks, in which he helps recover a watch from some neighborhood bullies, "The C Team", similar to The A-Team.
  • Mr. T was a guest star in the sitcom Silver Spoons where he played Ricky Stratton's bodyguard hired to protect Ricky from a school bully. When asked his middle name, he answers "Period."
  • Mr. T was also a guest star on an episode of Diff'rent Strokes. In the episode, The A Team are filming an episode of their show in New York City, and are based in the Drummond's building.
  • On the sitcom Friends in the episode "The One With the Prom Video", Chandler does an impression of Mr. T after Joey gives him a much hated gold bracelet. He calls it "a reject from the Mr. T collection" and says, "I pity the fool who puts on my jewelry, I do, I do. I pity the fool that..."
  • He was the subject of a sketch on British comedy show Little Britain. In the sketch, a man working out at a gym encounters a man dressed up like Mr. T -- but has no idea who Mr. T is. The sketch ends with the man driving away in a van similar to the A-Team van.
  • He was also the subject of a sketch in the British cult show Bo' Selecta!.
  • He was the subject of recurring "The All New Adventures Of Mr. T" sketch on Saturday Night Live by Robert Smigel where, in a parody of his 1980s cartoon, he and a group of teenagers drive around in a van, à la Scooby-Doo, and have adventures while Mr. T tries to find work.
  • On the Internet website Mr.T VS Everything, Mr. T vs ... are web pages depicting Mr. T fighting other celebrities, political figures, fictional characters, and other famous people in multi-page online comic books. Many classic quotes were created from this Internet meme, such as "Mr. T is helluva tough!". Mr. T traditionally wins the contest (by throwing his enemies "helluva far") , later to relax with a glass of milk.
  • In 2002, he appeared in the "Pass the Courvoisier" music video for Busta Rhymes, P. Diddy and Pharrell Williams.
  • The 2004 Veggie Tales DVD Sumo of the Opera is a parody of the Rocky franchise and features a character, Po Ta To, based on Mr. T's role in Rocky III as Clubber Lang. Po Ta To sports a mohawk similar to Mr. T's, utters the catchphrase, "I pity the fool!" and is amused by his opponent's "jibber-jabber."
  • In the UK, Mr. T appeared as a pixellated character on Digitiser, a cult video games magazine shown on Channel 4 Teletext from 1993 to 2003. He would appear on the service's letters page, dispensing advice to children which would usually end in him warning viewers to "Stay away from my bins". Viewers could also write in comments about Mr. T.
  • In an effort to revitalise his career after his bout with sickle-cell anemia, Mr. T made frequent cameos on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the first being a sequence where he and Conan visited an apple orchard. In the sequence, Conan was able to get Mr. T to try yelling at the apples to get them to fall off the tree, but Mr. T gave Conan a nasty glare after Conan tried to get him to yell at a worm-eaten apple for being bad. He still makes occasional appearances, which are greeted with wild applause by the audience.
  • There was a campaign to have Mr. T on LBC, a London-based radio station; all carried out by Iain Lee, a British comedian. Eventually, Iain Lee read out a letter which had been sent by Mr. T's Agent which stated "Mr. T would not like to take part in a local radio station." As a result Iain Lee's LBC producer is no longer using sound bites of Mr. T. [4]
  • In the video game Crash Tag Team Racing, the Crunch Bandicoot character seems to style himself after Mr. T, complete with an unlockable costume that makes him look like Mr. T. Also, he often says "Quit with yo jibber-jabber!"
  • The video game Final Fantasy VII showed a character named Barret Wallace, who resembles Mr. T in appearance.
  • Several "Mr. T Facts" have appeared around the Internet, similar to the popular Chuck Norris Facts.
  • Mr. T has also been referred to in the animated comedy, Family Guy, numerous times. In "Fore Father" from Season 2, Mr. T birds hallucinogenically appear to Stewie. News anchor Tom Tucker quotes Mr. T in "The Kiss Seen Around the World" saying, "Remember kids, Mr. T says, 'I pity the fool who does drugs.'" The episode "Brian Goes Back To College" from Season 4 is dedicated to The A-Team, as Peter and his neighbors are inspired to form their own version of an "A-Team" and set to "help out the community", after winning a fancy dress competition dressed as them. Peter Griffin's African-American neighbor, Cleveland Brown, sports B.A. Baracus' hairdo, attire, and jewelry.
  • In South Park's third episode of the tenth season, "Cartoon Wars Part I", during the Family Guy parody, Mr. T. sells tea, a reference to his various appearances in the show.
  • In the SNES game EarthBound, known for its quirky portrayal of the West, there is an NPC sprite which clearly resembles Mr. T.
  • Mr. T has been a popular write-in candidate for student body president at some colleges for decades. Notably, he was elected at least three times by the students of the New College of Florida, the state's honors college.
  • A 2006 episode of the American drama series ER features a brief scene of an African-American patient suffering from an infection, due to wearing too much Mr. T-style gold. When told by a doctor he must stop wearing it, the patient replies "I gotta be me!" in a Mr. T-like voice.
  • In the first episode of the British sitcom The IT Crowd, a picture of Mr. T and the cast of The A-Team can be seen on Denholm's desk.
  • British Phone Service 118 118 are currently running an A-Team-like TV ad, where the 118 118 Men bust through a barber shop and a child is seen with a Mr. T style hair cut and beard he then says "Crazy Fools!" in a Mr. T voice.
  • Channel 4 screened a documentary on the 18th May 2006 where Justin Lee Colins met up with the past members of The A-Team. Mr. T met up with Justin for a brief interview about the 1980s TV show.
  • Mr. T had licensed his image to a food company for a breakfast cereal. During the commercials for his eponymous cereal, Mr. T would use his catchphrase of "I pity the fool who don't eat my cereal!" Mr. T's cereal was famously featured in a scene of the movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, in which Pee-Wee eats a bowl of Mr. T cereal while doing an impersonation of Mr. T himself.
  • Californian band The Mr. T Experience are named after the man himself, with lead singer Dr. Frank being a fan of the A-team and other 1980s television shows.
  • A radio caller named Emma Lynch won £25,000 after UK's Virgin Radio challenged listeners to submit their all time favorite jokes. It was in reference to Mr. T and British Airways: "The last time I went on holiday, I flew with BA. It was terrible. He kept shouting: 'You crazy fool. I aint gettin' on no plane!'"
  • One of the Space Bandits from Jimmy Neutron: The League of Villains, named "Tee", has a similar voice and attitude as the actual Mr. T.
  • In an anti-Bush version of the popular online Emogame, Mr. T is parodied as a character with incredible strength.
  • One of the enemies in the arcade version of Double Dragon, Abobo, who clearly resembles Mr. T.
  • In the PC adventure/comedy game Simon The Sorceror II, the player's character (Simon) finds himself together with Mr. T, where they are both shackled prisoners in the galley of a pirate ship. Any attempt at conversation is met with "Shut up fool! I'm trying to escape!" - even after the player's character has successfully freed himself!
  • Track 12 of Australian band Regurgitator's 1997 album UNIT is entitled 'Mr. T'. However, the actual lyrics do not reflect the title's subject.
  • On the popular British Comedy TV Show Mr. Bean it shows a Mr. T bedspread on the main character's (Mr. Bean) bed.
  • In the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, one of the barber shops in Los Santos offers a haircut that looks exactly like Mr. T's, complete with beard and mohawk. It's also possible to buy clothes that superficially resemble Mr. T's, down to the gold jewelery.
  • In an episode of Lost, Sawyer says to the other castaways "Enough jibber-jabber- let's roll."
  • "The B.A. Baracus Band," a Canadian band known for covering 1980s music, takes their name from the character Mr. T played on the television program The A-Team.
  • Nintendo Power runs pictures of Mr. T from time to time.
  • His tremendous popularity among Filipinos led his film D.C. Cab to being re-released in Philippine theaters under the title Mr. T and Company in 1988, five years after the film's initial release.

Filmography

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