Mr. Laurence Tureaud, aka Mr. T, turns 73 on May 21. The actor and retired pro wrestler continues to be a cultural icon even well after his heyday in the 1980s. He continues to live by interesting philosophical points, “To the women and children, T stands for tender. To the bad guys and thugs, it stands for tough.” He is most known for his role as Clubber Lang in Rocky III and B.A. Baracus in The A-Team TV series. He has appeared in 56 projects throughout his career. His Hollywood stardom came from being spotted by Sly Stallone in a TV show named America’s Toughest Bouncer. Mr. T has led an interesting and inspirational life, including his service in the U.S. Army.
Mr. T was born and raised in Chicago, came from a large family and his father was a minister. He changed his last name to T for a very important reason. He stated:
“I think about my father being called ‘boy,’ my uncle being called ‘boy,’ my brother, coming back from Vietnam and being called, ‘boy.’ So I questioned myself: ‘What does a Black man have to do before he’s given respect as a man?’ So, when I was 18 years old, when I was old enough to fight and die for my country, old enough to drink, old enough to vote, I said I was old enough to be called a man. I self-ordained myself Mr. T, so the first word out of everybody’s mouth is ‘Mr.'”
He dealt with many challenges, like being kicked out of college after his first year, even though he was on a football scholarship. Mr. T joined the U.S. Army in 1975, served in the Military Police Corps and left the service in the late 1970s. He began working as a bouncer, which led to his eventual success in Hollywood.
Mr. T worked as a bodyguard for many top-level celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and big-time boxers such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Leon Spinks. He won two tough man competitions that aired on NBC, which led to him being discovered by Stallone. Stallone wanted him to play Clubber Lang, and the rest is history. In The A-Team, his character was a former Army Green Beret who, with his team, was accused “for a crime they didn’t commit.” The show ran for five seasons and 98 episodes. It starred Marine-turned-actor George Peppard, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz, who rounded out the Special Forces team that worked as soldiers of fortune while on the run from the U.S. Government. It was a ratings hit and further solidified Mr. T in pop culture and 1980s history.
Mr. T had his cartoon series spawned from his cultural icon status, named Mister T. The cartoon ran for three seasons and 30 episodes, which follows Mr. T as a gymnastics coach traveling the world in where they usually become entangled in solving a mystery. Each episode started with a moral lesson from Mr. T. The cartoon helped lead to the Mr. T Cereal, which was made by Quaker Oats from 1984 to 1993. He even had his own promotional video named Be Somebody…or Be Somebody’s Fool!, his own rap album titled Mr. T’s Commandments and a follow-up rap album titled Be Somebody or Be Somebody’s Fool. He hosted Saturday Night Live with Hulk Hogan in 1985 and got invited to the White House.
In 1985, he made his pro wrestling debut with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania I. He and the Hulkster won the match over “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff. Mr. T boxed Piper in WrestleMania 2 and won in the fourth round as Piper attacked the ref and bodyslammed Mr. T. He moved on to WCW and, throughout the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, appeared numerous times, most notably as a special referee for a Ric Flair versus Hulk Hogan match. Mr. T continued to appear at or around WWE matches in the 2000s.
His popularity waned in the late 1980s and into the 1990s as he spent more time doing commercials and his own deals, including being a coach for Eric “Butterbean” Esch during Toughman Contests. He fought cancer in the mid-1990s, made it through to continue his inspirational impact and now appears on TBN’s Christian TV network to speak about his faith. In the late 2000s, he appeared in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs as Officer Earl Deveraux. Mr. T has starred in commercials for Atari, Snickers, World of Warcraft, MCI and Radio Shack. He has most recently appeared on Dancing with the Stars in the late 2010s.
Mr. T is married and has three children, two daughters and a son. In 1995, he was diagnosed with T-Cell lymphoma, which he joked, “Can you imagine that? Cancer with my name on it – personalized cancer!” By the mid-2000s, he had stopped wearing his gold because of his experience with the cleanup of Hurricane Katrina. Mr. T commented, “As a Christian, when I saw other people lose their lives and lose their land and property … I felt that it would be a sin before God for me to continue wearing my gold. I felt it would be insensitive and disrespectful to the people who lost everything, so I stopped wearing my gold.” Mr. T has led an interesting and eventful life while providing solid moral lessons to kids and helping to inspire others with his service and positive messages. Happy birthday, Mr. T!