Mr. T

Early life, family and education

Tureaud was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest son in a family with twelve children. He and his four sisters and seven brothers grew up in a three-room apartment in the Robert Taylor Homes public housing. His father, Nathaniel Tureaud, was a minister. After his father left when Lawrence was five years old, he shortened his name to Lawrence Tero. In 1970, he legally changed his last name to T. His new name, Mr. T, was based upon his childhood impressions regarding the lack of respect from white people for his family. T recalls:

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."

Tureaud attended Dunbar Vocational High School, where he was on the school's football and wrestling teams. He also studied martial arts. During high school, he was the citywide wrestling champion two years in a row.

He won a football scholarship to Prairie View A&M University, where he majored in mathematics. He was expelled, along with some 200 other students, for protesting the expulsion of the student newspaper editor who had broken the female-only curfew by leaving campus for the weekend to attend Mardi Gras.

Early career

After Tureaud left Prairie View A&M, he worked as a gym instructor for a government program in Chicago. He later said it was here that he discovered a gift for helping children. Thereafter, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1975 and served in the Military Police Corps. After his discharge in the late 1970s, he tried out for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, but failed to make the team owing to a knee injury.

Tureaud worked as a bouncer at the Rush Street night club Dingbats Discotheque. It was at this time that he created the persona of Mr. T. He began wearing gold neck chains and other jewelry as a result of customers losing the items or leaving them behind at the night club after a fight. A banned customer, or one reluctant to risk a confrontation by going back inside, could return to claim his property from Mr. T who would wear it conspicuously in front of the establishment. Along with controlling the violence as a doorman, Tureaud was mainly hired to keep out drug dealers and users. Tureaud has claimed that as a bouncer, he was in over 200 fights and was sued a number of times, but won each case.

He eventually parlayed his job as a bouncer into a career as a bodyguard that lasted almost ten years. As his reputation grew, he was contracted to guard, among others, clothes designers, models, judges, politicians, athletes and millionaires. His clients included celebrities Steve McQueen, Michael Jackson, LeVar Burton, and Diana Ross, and boxers Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and Leon Spinks. With his reputation as Mr. T, Tureaud attracted strange offers and was frequently approached with odd commissions, including tracking runaway teenagers, locating missing persons, debt collection, and assassination requests.

While he was in his late twenties, Tureaud won two tough-man competitions consecutively. The first aired as Sunday Games on NBC-TV under the contest of "America's Toughest Bouncer" which included throwing a 150-pound (68 kg) stuntman, and breaking through a 4-inch (10 cm) wooden door. For the first event, Tureaud came in third place. For the end, two finalists squared off in a boxing ring for a two-minute round to declare the champion. Making it to the ring as a finalist, he had as his opponent a 280-pound (130 kg) Honolulu bouncer, Tutefano Tufi. Within twenty seconds Mr. T gave the 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Tufi a bloody nose, and later a bloody mouth. T won the match and thus the competition. The second competition was aired under a new name, Games People Play, on NBC-TV. When interviewed by Bryant Gumbel before the final boxing match, Mr T. said, "I just feel sorry for the guy who I have to box. I just feel real sorry for him." This fight was scheduled to last three rounds, but Mr. T finished it in less than 54 seconds. The line, "I don't hate him but... I pity the fool" in the movie Rocky III was written by Sylvester Stallone, who is reputed to have been inspired by the interview.

Acting roles and other work

While reading National Geographic, Mr. T first noticed the hairstyle for which he is now famous, on a Mandinka warrior. 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.

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. Although his role in Rocky III was originally intended as just a few lines, Mr. T was eventually cast as Clubber Lang, the primary antagonist. His catchphrase "I pity the fool!" comes from the film; when asked if he hates Rocky, Lang replies, "No, I don't hate Balboa, but I pity the fool." He subsequently appeared in another boxing film, Penitentiary 2, and on an episode of the Canadian sketch comedy series Bizarre, where he fights and eats Super Dave Osborne, before accepting a television series role on The A-Team. He appeared in an episode of the NBC sitcom Silver Spoons, reprising his old role as bodyguard to the character Ricky Stratton (played by Ricky Schroder).

In The A-Team, he played Sergeant Bosco "B. A." Baracus, an ex-Army commando on the run with three other members from the United States government "for a crime they didn't commit." As well as the team's tough guy, B. A. was a mechanical genius, but afraid of flying. When asked at a press conference whether he was as stupid as B. A. Baracus, Mr. T observed quietly, "It takes a smart guy to play dumb." The series was a major hit, and B. A. Baracus in particular quickly became a cult character and the de facto star of the show, reportedly sparking tensions with seasoned actor George Peppard, although Mr. T always maintained that these were unfounded rumors. Mr. T was reported to be earning $80,000 a week for his role in The A-Team.

His role in The A-Team led to him making an appearance in the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes in the sixth season opener "Mr. T and Mr. t" (1983), in which an episode of The A-Team is supposedly filmed in the family's penthouse apartment.

Also in 1983, a Ruby-Spears-produced cartoon called Mister T premiered on NBC. The Mister T cartoon starred Mr. T as his alter ego, the owner of a gym where a group of gymnasts trained. He helped them with their training, but they also helped him solve mysteries and fight crime in Scooby-Doo-style scenarios; thirty episodes were produced. Each episode was bookended by Mr. T himself, presenting the theme of the episode, and then a closing statement on a lesson for children, based on the events of the episode.

Commercials

Mr. T has appeared in numerous TV commercials, including for Snickers, Atari, World of Warcraft, MCI, Comcast and RadioShack. Forbes described him as "one of the most enduring pitchmen in the business". Mr. T has described himself as "not really an actor, I'm a reactor; I'm a pitchman." At his peak, he was earning $5 million per year.

Mr. T performed in a video campaign for Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) 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." 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". A follow-up to this commercial appeared in November 2009 where he appeared promoting the "mohawk grenade" item, which appears in game and turns other players into Mr. T's likeness.

In 2008, Mr. T appeared on the American channel Shopping TV, selling his Mr. T Flavorwave Oven. In 2009, ZootFly announced they had acquired the rights to the Mr. T Graphic Novel and were planning several video games based upon the work. The first (and only) game, Mr. T: The Videogame, was to have Mr. T battle Nazis in various locations and guest star Wil Wright. It was planned to be available on the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PC platforms, however the game was canceled for undisclosed reasons.

The same year, he appeared on commercials in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand advertising the candy bar Snickers with the slogan "Get Some Nuts!" One of these commercials featured Mr. T on an army jeep calling a speed walker wearing yellow shorts "a disgrace to the man race" (a pun on the double meaning of the word "race") and firing Snickers bars at the man with a custom-made machine gun so that he starts "running like a real man". This commercial was pulled by Mars following a complaint by the US-based group Human Rights Campaign, although the advert had never been shown in the US. The group alleged that the commercial promoted the idea that violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people "is not only acceptable, but humorous". Mr. T distanced himself from these accusations, insisting that he would never lend his name to such beliefs, and that he did not think the commercial was offensive to anyone, as all the commercials he appeared in had a similarly silly, over-the-top nature and were never intended to be taken seriously.

Professional wrestling

World Wrestling Federation (1985–1987)

Mr. T entered the world of professional wrestling in 1985. He was Hulk Hogan's tag-team partner at the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) WrestleMania I, a match they won. 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 said he and fellow wrestlers disliked Mr. T because he was an actor and had never paid his dues as a professional wrestler. Remaining with the WWF, Mr. T became a special "WWF boxer" in light of his character in Rocky III. He took on "Cowboy" Bob Orton on the March 1, 1986, Saturday Night's Main Event V, on NBC. This boxing stunt culminated in another boxing match against Roddy Piper at WrestleMania 2. As part of the build-up for the match, Piper attacked Mr. T's friend, dwarf wrestler the Haiti Kid on his Piper's Pit interview slot, shaving his head into a mohican style similar to that of Mr. T. Then Mr. T won the boxing match in Round 4 by disqualification after Piper attacked the referee and bodyslammed Mr. T. He returned to the World Wrestling Federation as a special guest referee in 1987 and a special referee enforcer confronting such stars as The Honky Tonk Man.

World Class Championship Wrestling (1989)

On July 21, 1989, Mr. T. made an appearance in World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), seconding Kerry Von Erich.

World Championship Wrestling (1994)

Five years later, Mr. T reappeared in WCW, first appearing in Hulk Hogan's corner for his WCW world title match against Ric Flair at Bash at the Beach 1994. He would next appear as a special referee for the Hogan–Flair rematch in October 1994 at Halloween Havoc, and then went on to wrestle again, defeating Kevin Sullivan at Starrcade '94: Triple Threat.

Sporadic appearances (2001–present)

Another seven years later, Mr. T appeared in the front row of the November 19, 2001, episode of WWF Raw. On April 5, 2014, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Mr. T was inducted by Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame's celebrity wing. His acceptance speech, largely a tribute to his mother and motherhood rather than wrestling, ran long and was eventually interrupted by Kane.

Curling

Mr. T is an enthusiastic supporter of curling, having supported the US Olympic team in 2018 and 2022.

Personal life

Mr. T is a born-again Christian. Mr. T married Phyllis Clarke in 1971. They have three children together, two daughters and a son. One of their daughters, Erika Clarke, is a comedian. They divorced in the 1980s.

Mr. T was sued by a man in 2014 saying that he was also Mr. T's son from outside his marriage. The lawsuit was dismissed in August 2014 due to the man's failure to pay the required fees.

In 1987, he angered the residents of Lake Forest, Illinois, by cutting down more than 100 oak trees on his estate. The local newspaper referred to the incident as "the Lake Forest Chain Saw Massacre".

In 1995, he was diagnosed with a cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, or mycosis fungoides. Once in remission, he joked about the coincidence: "Can you imagine that? Cancer with my name on it – personalized cancer!" He wrote an as-yet-unpublished book on this experience, called Cancer Saved My Life (Cancer Ain't for No Wimps). He made a direct reference to it as he performed a waltz to the song "Amazing Grace" in Dancing with the Stars.

He stopped wearing virtually all his gold, one of his identifying marks, after helping with the cleanup after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He said, "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 often refers to himself in the third person. He also frequently talks in rhymes. He cites Muhammad Ali as his "childhood hero" and his main inspiration with regard to style and mannerisms.

Filmography

Discography

Albums

Mr. T's Commandments (1984), Columbia

Be Somebody (Or Be Somebody's Fool) (1984), MCA

Singles

"Mr. T's Commandment" (1984)

"Don't Talk to Strangers" (1984)

"Treat Your Mother Right" (1984)