Mr. T 19019 225765632 2008-07-15T08:37:36Z Giggy 2006904 /* External links */ +[[simple:Mr. T]] {{pp-semi-vandalism|small=yes}} {{Two other uses|the actor|the animated series|Mister T (TV series)}} {{Infobox actor |image = MrT.jpg |imagesize = 200px |caption = Mr. T in a publicity photo |birthname = Laurence Tureaud |birthdate = {{birth date and age|1952|5|21}} |birthplace = [[Chicago, Illinois]], [[U.S.]] |occupation = [[actor]], [[motivational speaker]], [[wrestler]],[[humanitarian]], bodyguard. TV personality |yearsactive = 1982-present |homepage = }} '''Mr. T''' (born '''Laurence Tureaud'''; [[May 21]] [[1952]]) is an [[United States|American]] [[actor]] known for his roles as [[Sergeant|Sgt.]] [[B. A. Baracus|"B. A." (Bad Attitude) Baracus]] in the 1980s [[television]] series ''[[The A-Team]]'', as [[boxing|boxer]] [[Clubber Lang|James "Clubber" Lang]] in the 1982 film ''[[Rocky III]]'', and for his numerous appearances in the [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWF]] and as a professional wrestler. Mr. T is also well-known for his distinctive [[mohawk hairstyle]], for wearing large amounts of gold jewelry, and for his tough guy image. He starred in the [[reality show]] ''[[I Pity the Fool (TV series)|I Pity the Fool]]'', shown on [[TV Land]], the title of which comes from his ''Rocky III'' [[catchphrase]]. ==Biography== ===Early life=== Mr. T was born '''Laurence Tureaud''' in [[Chicago, Illinois]], the youngest boy in a large family with twelve children. His father, Nathaniel Tureaud Sr., was a [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]].{{Fact|date=May 2008}} Tureaud, with his four sisters and seven brothers, grew up in one of the city's [[housing projects]], [[Robert Taylor Homes]]. Tureaud attended Paul Lawrence Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, where he played football, wrestled, and studied [[martial arts]]. He won a scholarship to [[Prairie View A&M University]], but was thrown out after a year. Tureaud also attended several small Chicago area colleges on athletic scholarships. After leaving school, Tureaud became a [[United States Army Military Police Corps|military police]]man in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]], before trying out for the professional football [[Green Bay Packers]]. Tureaud worked as a bouncer after he returned from the army. It was at this time that he created the persona of "Mr. T." His wearing of gold neck chains and other jewelry was the result of customers losing the items, leaving them behind at the bar/night club after a fight, or being removed from the place. A customer would not have to re-enter or even have to see anyone else again if Mr. T wore their jewelry as he stood out front. When a customer came back, their item was readily visible and available with no further confrontations required. Often, the "former" customers did not return. Mr. T thus built up a large collection and earned a reputation for wearing lots of gold neck chains and bracelets. Mr. T managed to eventually parlay his job as a bouncer into a career as a [[bodyguard]] to the stars that lasted almost ten years. He protected well-known personalities like [[Muhammad Ali]], [[Steve McQueen]], [[Michael Jackson]], [[Bruce Lee]], [[Leon Spinks]], [[Joe Frazier]], and [[Diana Ross]], charging $3,000 per day.<ref>[http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/mister_t_1_/bio.jhtml Mr. T | View the Music Artists Biography Online | VH1.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> As a bodyguard, Tureaud's business card read, "Next to God, there is no greater protector than I." Mr. T claimed that he never lost a client, saying, "I got hurt worse growing up in the [[ghetto]] than working as a bodyguard." A bald-headed Mr. T can be seen on film accompanying Joe Frazier to the ring in Frazier's rematch against [[George Foreman]] in 1976. ===Acting roles and work=== While reading ''[[National Geographic]]'', Mr. T first noticed the unusual hairstyle, for which he is now famous, on a [[Mandinka people|Mandinka]] warrior.<ref>Mentioned in a number of interviews, including [http://allhiphop.com/stories/features/archive/2006/11/09/18133735.aspx Mr. T: Pity The Fool], allhiphop.com, Published Thursday, November 09, 2006. Mr. T gives a 1977 date, for an article with photos on the Mandinka in Mali. National Geographic Magazine's index has no record of such an article. [http://publicationsindex.nationalgeographic.com/ http://publicationsindex.nationalgeographic.com/].</ref> He decided that adoption of the style would be a powerful statement about his [[African]] origin. It was a simpler, safer and more permanent visual signature than his gold chains, rings, and bracelets. The gold jewelry was worth about $300,000 at the time and took him about an hour to put on. Most nights, Mr. T spent even more time cleaning them using an [[ultrasonic cleaner]]. Occasionally, he would sleep with the heavy neck chains and bracelets on, "to see how my ancestors, who were [[Slavery|slave]]s, felt."<ref>http://www.tvacres.com/jewelry_mr_t.htm tvacres.com</ref> In 1980, Mr. T was spotted by [[Sylvester Stallone]] while taking part in NBC's "America's Toughest Bouncer" competition—a segment of NBC's "Games People Play." <ref>[http://www.starpulse.com/Actors/Mr._T/Biography/ Biography of Mr. T]</ref> His role in ''Rocky III'' was originally intended as just a few lines. His catchphrase, "I pity the fool!", comes from the film, in which he played a boxer facing Rocky Balboa. When asked if he hated Rocky, he replied, "No, 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 a television series role on ''[[The A-Team]]''. Mr. T appeared in an episode of ''[[Silver Spoons]]'', reprising his old role as bodyguard to [[Rick Stratton|Ricky Stratton]]. In the episode, he explains his name as "First name: ''Mister''; middle name: ''period''; last name ''T''." In one scene, when Ricky's class erupts into a paper ball throwing melee, Mr. T throws his body in front of the objects, fully protecting his client. <!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[Image:BABaracus.jpg|left|250px]] --> In ''[[The A-Team]]'', he played [[B.A. Baracus|Sergeant Bosco "B.A." Baracus]] (''B.A.'' is an abbreviation of "Bad Attitude"), an ex-army [[commando]] on the run with three other members from the [[United States|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 Productions|Ruby-Spears]] produced [[cartoon]] called ''[[Mister T (TV series)|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 group 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]]. That same year he released a related rap album titled ''Mr. T's Commandments''. In 1988, Mr. T starred in the television series ''[[T. and T.]]''. 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 frequently appears on the [[Trinity Broadcasting Network|TBN]] Christian television series. He has appeared in commercials for [[MCI Communications|MCI]]'s 1-800-COLLECT collect-call service and on ''[[Late Night with Conan O'Brien]]''. He has also appeared on some [[Comcast]] commercials, and in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand during 2007, advertising the chocolate bar [[Snickers]] with the slogan "Get Some Nuts!".<ref>[http://getsomenuts.tv/ GET SOME NUTS | Snickers ™<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Mr. T appeared in a popular commercial for the Oregon Lottery which parodied the current popularity of reality TV shows. The commercial was a satire, in which Mr. T starred in a fictitious reality show entitled ''Who can spend 30 days in a trailer with Mr. T?''.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KslWOw9FsQk Oregon Lottery Commercial]</ref> Mr. T did a video campaign for [[Hitachi Data Systems Corporation|Hitachi's Data Systems]] that was created and posted on consumer video sites including [[YouTube]] and [[Yahoo! Video]]. According to Steven Zivanic, senior director and corporate communications of HDS, "this campaign has not only helped the firm in its own area, but it has given the data storage firm a broader audience." As of December 1st 2007, the first version, “Mr. T: The T in IT,” has been viewed 259,857 times on YouTube alone.<ref>[http://www.dmnews.com/cms/dm-news/internet-marketing/42045.html Mr. T attracts viewers, buyers for Hitachi - DMNews<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In November 2007, Mr. T appeared in a television commercial for the online role playing game ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' with the phrase ''"I'm Mr. T and I'm a Night Elf Mohawk"''.<ref>[http://www.wow-europe.com/en/downloads/commercials.html#mrt World of Warcraft Europe -> Downloads -> Movies -> TV Commercials<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ===Wrestling=== Mr. T entered the world of [[professional wrestling]] in 1985. He was [[Hulk Hogan]]'s tag-team partner at the first [[WrestleMania (1985)|WrestleMania]]. Hulk Hogan wrote in his autobiography that Mr. T saved the main event of WrestleMania I between them and "Rowdy" [[Roddy Piper]] and "Mr. Wonderful" [[Paul Orndorff]] because when he arrived, security would not let his entourage into the building. Mr. T was ready to skip the show until Hogan personally talked him out of leaving. Piper has said that he and other fellow wrestlers disliked Mr. T because he was an actor coming into wrestling and had never paid his dues as a professional wrestler. Remaining with the World Wrestling Federation, Mr. T became a special "WWF boxer," in light of his character in ''Rocky III.'' He took on [[Bob Orton, Jr.|"Cowboy" Bob Orton]] on an episode of ''[[WWE Saturday Night's Main Event|Saturday Night's Main Event]],'' on NBC. This boxing stint ultimately culminated in another boxing match against Roddy Piper at [[WrestleMania 2]]. Mr. T returned to the World Wrestling Federation as a special guest referee in 1987, before suddenly disappearing from the wrestling world. Seven years later, Mr. T reappeared as a special referee for a Hogan-[[Ric Flair]] match, in October 1994, at [[Halloween Havoc#1994|Halloween Havoc]], and then went on to wrestle again, defeating [[Kevin Sullivan (wrestler)|Kevin Sullivan]] at that year's [[Starrcade#1994|Starrcade]]. Mr. T would return to wrestling, another seven years later, appearing in an episode of [[WWE Raw|WWF Raw]] on [[November 19]], [[2001]]. ===Album=== Mr. T, in 1984, released an album entitled, ''[[Mr. T's Commandments]],'' much in the same tone as his 1984 educational video which instructed children to stay in school and to stay away from drugs. He later followed up with 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. In 2002, Mr. T appeared in the video for "Pass The Courvoisier" by [[Busta Rhymes]] featuring [[P. Diddy]] and [[Pharell Williams]]. [[John Cena]]'s music video, "[[Bad Bad Man]]," also featured an imitation of Mr. T / B.A. throughout. ===Personal life=== Mr. T lives in [[Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California|Sherman Oaks, California]], and is single. He owns a twenty-acre ranch in the foothills of the [[Sandia Mountains]] in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], and spends most summers there. He is a [[Born again Christianity|born again Christian]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.beliefnet.com/story/201/story_20189_1.html |accessdate = 2007-11-22 |title = Words of Wisdom from Mr. T |publisher = Beliefnet}}</ref> In 2005, Mr. T stated that he never would wear his chains again, "No, T, you can never wear your gold again. It's an insult to God". He arrived at this decision after seeing the effects of [[Hurricane Katrina]]. However, he has been seen wearing some chains for several commercial appearances, such as the 2007 [[United Kingdom|U.K.]] and [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] [[Snickers]] advertisement, and the 2007 ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' ad. Mr. T donated a great deal of clothing and money to Katrina victims.{{Fact|date=March 2008}} ==Filmography== {{wikiquote}} *''[[Penitentiary II]]'' (1982) Himself *''[[Rocky III]]'' (1982) James "Clubber" Lang *''[[Twilight Theatre]]'' (1982) TV Series *''[[The A-Team]]'' (1983-1987) TV Series, Sergeant Bosco "B.A." Baracus *''[[D.C. Cab]]'' (1983) Samson *''[[Mister T (television series)|Mister T]]'' (1983) TV Series, Himself *''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' (1983) TV Series, Himself *''[[Alvin and the Chipmunks]]'' (1983) Children's animated series, episode "The C - Team" as himself *''[[The Toughest Man in the World]]'' (1984) (TV) Bruise Brubaker *''[[Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool!]]'' (1984) (Video) Mr. T *''[[WWF Superstars of Wrestling]]'' (1984-1986, 1988) TV Series, Himself *''[[WrestleMania (1985)|WrestleMania]]'' (1985) (Video) Himself *''[[WrestleMania 2]]'' (1986) (Video) Himself *''[[T. and T.]]'' (1988) TV Series T. S. Turner *''[[Freaked]]'' (1993) The Bearded Lady *''[[Terrible Thunderlizards|The Terrible Thunderlizards]]'' (1993) Mr. T-Rex *''[[Blossom (TV series)|Blossom]]'' (1994) TV Series, Himself *''[[Magic of the Golden Bear: Goldy III]]'' (1994) *''[[Kids Against Crime]]'' (1995) Himself *''[[Spy Hard]]'' (1996) Helicopter Pilot *''[[Saturday Night Live]]: The Best of [[Eddie Murphy]]'' (1998) (Video) Mister Robinson's Neighbour *''[[Inspector Gadget]]'' (1999) Himself *''[[Judgment movie|Judgment]]'' (2001) J. T. Quincy *''[[Not Another Teen Movie]]'' (2001) The Wise Janitor *''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' '''Get Shovelized!/T is for Trouble'''(2004) Himself *''[[The Simpsons]]'' (2004) Himself *''[[Return of the Lads]]'' (2005) Lad No 3 with Mark Egan and Cian Duffy ==References== <!-- ---------------------------------------------------------- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for a discussion of different citation methods and how to generate footnotes using the <ref>, </ref> and <reference /> tags ----------------------------------------------------------- --> {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{Portal|Professional wrestling|break=yes}} *{{imdb name|id=0001558|name=Mr. T}} *[http://www.mohawkmedia.co.uk Official Mr. T site] *[http://www.mrtandme.com/mrt/main/ Mr. T Memorabilia at Mr. T and Me] *[http://www.tvland.com/originals/ipitythefool/ TV Land's official I Pity The Fool page] *[http://www.legendarytv.com/the_a-team/the_a-team_mr_t.asp Legendary TV's Mr. T profile] *[http://www.ateamshrine.co.uk/ba.php The A-Team Shrine's Mr. T and B.A. Baracus profile] *[http://www.beliefnet.com/story/201/story_20189_1.html Mr. T discusses his Christian faith] *[http://www.mrtvseverything.com/ Mr. T Vs Everything] *[http://getsomenuts.tv/ Snickers' "Get Some Nuts" Promotional Website] {{DEFAULTSORT:T, Mr.}} [[Category:1952 births]] [[Category:Actors from Chicago]] [[Category:African American actors]] [[Category:American Christians]] [[Category:American film actors]] [[Category:American professional wrestlers]] [[Category:American television actors]] [[Category:American television personalities]] [[Category:Bodyguards]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Prairie View A&M Panthers football players]] [[Category:United States Army soldiers]] [[da:Mr. T]] [[de:Mr. T]] [[es:Mr. T]] [[fr:Mister T.]] [[id:Mr. T]] [[it:Mr. T]] [[he:מיסטר טי]] [[lt:Mr. T]] [[nl:Mr. T]] [[ja:ミスター・T]] [[no:Mr. T]] [[pl:Mr. T]] [[pt:Mr. T]] [[ru:Мистер Ти]] [[fi:Mr. T]] [[simple:Mr. T]] [[sv:Mr. T]]