Mr. T

Date of Birth: May 21, 1952
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois

Mr. T Biography

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"I Pity Da Foo !"

Mr. T mini-bio: Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud on May 21, 1952) is an American actor and former wrestler known for his roles as Sgt. Bosco "B.A." Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as boxer "Clubber Lang" in the 1982 film, Rocky III.

He is also well-known for his distinctive Mohawk hairstyle and for wearing an extreme amount of gold jewelry. Biography Mr. T came from Chicago, and was the eleventh of twelve children; he and his four sisters and seven brothers grew up in the city's housing projects. He played football, studied martial arts, and won a scholarship to Prairie View A&M University, Texas, and majored in mathematics but was thrown out after a year.

After that he went to a couple of small Chicago colleges on athletic scholarships. After leaving college he was a Military Policeman in the U.S. Army before trying out for the Green Bay Packers.[citation needed] His professional football career was finished when he suffered a knee injury. For about a decade, he was a bodyguard who provided additional security to such personalities as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson, Steve McQueen, and Diana Ross when they were in Chicago. He charged around $3,000 a day.

His business card read, "Next to God, there is no greater protector than I." In 1970, he changed his name by deed poll from "Laurence Tureaud" to "Laurence Tero" and then in 1980 to "Mr. T" so that he would have to be addressed as "Mr." It was while reading National Geographic magazine that he first saw the unusual hairstyle, which he would adapt as his trademark, on an African Mandinka warrior. He has said that adopting the style was a statement about his African heritage.

During his stint as a doorman, Mr. T would steal jewelry from disorderly people and wear it himself as a testament to how well he performed his job. At one point, his gold chains, rings, and bracelets were worth about $300,000. It took him about an hour to put it on, and most nights he cleaned it in an ultrasonic cleaner although some nights he slept in the chains "to see how my ancestors, who were slaves, felt." Mr. T twice won the "World's Toughest Bouncer" contest on the TV series Games People Play starring Bryant Gumbel.

In 1986, Mr. T clear-cut a large number of trees from around his mansion in Lake Forest, Illinois explaining that he had allergies. This resulted in controversy with his neighbors and led several North Shore communities to enact ordinances making the removal of old growth trees illegal. He sold the mansion and moved to California shortly thereafter.

In 1995, Mr. T was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma cancer at the age of 43. The disease eventually went into remission. In 2005, after seeing the effects of Hurricane Katrina, Mr. T announced he would never wear his chains again, saying they were "an insult to God", and donated clothing and money to Katrina victims.

As of 2006, Mr. T lives in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, and is Christian. He mentioned on the Howard Stern Show in October 2006 that he had become a grandfather and that his cancer was still in remission, although he was still receiving preventive medical treatment.