Mr. T

Mr. T (born May 21, 1952, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) actor and professional wrestler known for his tough appearance and his iconic roles in television and film, including that of Sgt. B.A. Baracus in the TV action series The A-Team (1983–87). He is frequently associated with his signature catchphrase, “I pity the fool,” which originated in the film Rocky III (1983).

Laurence Tureaud was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, 1 of 12 children in the family. He was five years old when his father, Nathaniel Tureaud, a minister, left. Laurence Tureaud attended Dunbar Vocational High School on the South Side. He was a multisport athlete, competing in football, martial arts, and wrestling. As a wrestler, he won the city wrestling championship three times.

It was about 1970, when Tureaud was 18, that the future actor legally changed his name to Mr. T. By starting his name with “Mr.,” he demanded to be addressed with the respect often denied Black men. As he explained in an interview with the Huffington Post in 2015,

I changed my name because as a black man growing up in white society, I watched my father being called “boy,” and he was a preacher. I watched my brother coming back from the Marines and Vietnam and being called “boy.” I watched enough black men in my family being called “boy,” so I point to the fact: What does a black man have to do to get his respect as a man?

His athletic achievements earned Mr. T a football scholarship at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, where he studied mathematics for one year before being expelled. In 1975 he enlisted in the United States Army and became the top trainee in his recruiting class. He went on to join the Military Police Corps.

After leaving the army, Mr. T became a nightclub bouncer in Chicago and served as a professional bodyguard. Celebrities who Mr. T helped protect include Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson.

It was during this time that Mr. T developed his flashy look. While he was a bouncer, he began to wear gold jewelry that had been either lost or confiscated at the nightclub. In addition, during the late 1970s Mr. T was inspired to adopt the Mohawk-like hairstyle of a Mandinka warrior after encountering a photo of one in National Geographic magazine. He later explained that his look, specifically his chains, represented his African ancestors who had been enslaved.

In 1980 Mr. T appeared on the NBC television show Games People Play (1980–81) during the “America’s Best Bouncer” segment. He won the competition, and—more important for his career—actor and director Sylvester Stallone saw his performance and cast him in the film Rocky III (1982). Mr. T played the character Clubber Lang, an aggressive and outspoken boxer who is the main adversary of boxer Rocky Balboa (played by Stallone). Although Mr. T was nominated for Worst New Star at the Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony, a parody award show highlighting the bad in movies, his role in the Rocky film gained him fame and sparked his acting career.

Mr. T’s next big role was not on the big screen but on television. He was cast as Sgt. B.A. Baracus in the popular series The A-Team (1983–87). Alongside such actors as George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, and Dwight Schultz, Mr. T played an escaped military convict-turned-mercenary.

Far from being like the aggressive and antagonistic Clubber Lang character in Rocky III, Mr. T was a notable role model for children during the 1980s. In the cartoon television show Mister T (1983–85), for example, Mr. T coaches a gymnastics team. He and his team travel the world, solving crimes and mysteries while providing moral lessons along the way. Then in 1985 Mr. T launched a brief music career with the release of the rap album Mr. T’s Commandments, seeking to give children life advice by teaching them to make good choices.

That same year Mr. T embarked on a different type of performance: professional wrestling. Notably, he participated in the first WrestleMania (1985), claiming victory as part of a tag team with superstar Hulk Hogan in a match against Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper.

Mr. T continued to act on film and television into the 1990s. In 1995 he was diagnosed with T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare form of cancer. After this the number of Mr. T’s appearances onscreen decreased until the cancer went into remission in 2001. Since then Mr. T has appeared on such television programs as the home improvement show I Pity the Fool (2006– ) and Dancing with the Stars. In addition, he voiced Earl Devereaux in the animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009).