"Ten years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire The A-Team."

(The opening narration for the NBC series The A-Team')

TRIVIA NOTE:  Born Lawrence Tureaud, on 21 May 1952 in  Chicago, Mr. T. is the second of 12 children who grew up in a housing projects in Chicago.  Standing 5' 10' tall he attended Dunbar Vocational High School, played  college football, studied martial arts, and was three times city wrestling champion! He won a scholarship to Prairie View A&M University in Texas, but was thrown out after a year. Lawrence changed his name in 1970 to Laurence Tero, and then later to Mr. T so that people would HAVE to address him as "Mr." During 1985-86 Mr. T entered the world of pro wrestling battling with the likes of Hulk Hogan or Roddy Piper until 1995. Mr. T was also twice named America's Toughest Bouncer and a body guard to Muhammad Ali. His business card reads, "Next to God, there is no better protector than I." In an interview with Playboy (September 1983) he said "I am the best bodyguard, because I'll take a bullet, I'll take a stab wound, I'll take a hit upside the head; I'm like a Kamikaze pilot; The President got shot because his men relaxed." In 1995 Mr. T was diagnosed with cancer at age 43 (T-Cell Lymphoma of the skin) but after intensive therapy, he has apparently beat the disease in 2001.

Besides his trademark catchphrase "I pity the fool," Mr T. has three distinct characteristics. The first one is his hair. He adopted his hair style from an African Mandinka warrior that he once saw in a copy of National Geographic. He felt that adopting the style was a powerful statement about African origins. His second feature is his jewelry. He wear lots of gold. In his biography Mr. T , he explained: "the gold chains are a symbol that reminds me of my great African ancestors, who were brought over here as slaves with iron chains on their ankles, their wrists, their necks and sometimes around their waists. I turned my chains into gold...the fact I wear gold instead of iron chains is because I am still a slave, only my price tag is higher now. I am still bought and sold by the powers that be in society, white people, but this time they pay me on demand, millions and millions of dollars for my services." Mr. T bought his first chain in 1976. The third thing that makes Mr. T unique are his shoes. Again in his 1984 biography her revealed "My beat-up, run-over, taped-up raggedy and old combat boots used to belong to my father before they were handed down to me. I wear my father's boots with pride because they help me not to forget where I come from and they tell me that I have to finished his journey. Now the reason I wear mismatched socks is because there are a lot of poor children who don't have a pair of matched socks, and people laugh at them. So I wear mismatched socks so people can laugh at me, instead of poor kids. Plus I am making a fashion statement: just wear what you got and be thankful."

Mr. T's film acting credit range from the movie Rocky III (1982) as boxer Clubber Lang;  D.C Cab (1983) as   Samson, a Washington D.C. taxi driver; the TV movie The Toughest Man in the World (1984) as Bruise Brubaker; Not Another Teen Movie as the wise janitor (2001); and Apocalypse IV: Judgment (2001) as J.T Quincy. His TV credits included the TV special The World's Toughest Bouncer on GAMES PEOPLE PLAY (1982) MISTER T (1983) as a cartoon character who ran a gymnasium and helped teenagers; THE BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS XIV (1983) as an NBC Team Contestant; "WWF SUPERSTARS OF WRESTLING (1984) as Himself (1985-1986; 1988);  "T. AND T." (1988) as T.S. Turner an ex-con turned private eye;  E! RANK: 25 TOUGHEST STARS (2001) as Host; and an archive footage appearance B.A. Baracus in THE 100 GREATEST TV CHARACTERS (2001) and on NBC's 75th ANNIVERSARY (2002).

Occasionally Mr. T appears as Conan O'Brien's special guest and partner in various comedy sketches on the hit NBC late-night show LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN. In 2002 Mr. T appeared as "Inspecta Collect" in a 1-800 Collect commercials. In the end, the one thing that reveals the real Mr. T is his statement: "Any man who don't love his momma can't be no friend of mine."