Mr. T is an interesting person, right down to his gold chains and iconic mohawk. From the outside, Mr. T might seem like the most intimidating man in the room, and most of the time he is, but there is a lot to learn about the man behind B.A. Baracus. In the five seasons The A-Team was on air, households came to know and love Mr. T.
Don't let the tough guy exterior fool you, there is a lot to learn about Mr. T! Below you will find eight fun facts about one of the '80s greatest legends.
Mr. T had a rough start
Believe it or not, Mr. T's real name is not actually Mr. T! He was born in 1952 with the name Laurence Tureaud. He grew up in an area of Chicago where poverty and violent crime was part of everyday life. He lived in a three bedroom house with his 11 siblings.
Mr. T was a witness to violent crimes at a very young age, which adds to his tough guy image. His mother was one of his biggest influences and she helped him stay off the streets and out of trouble.
He was a talented football player
Just in case Mr. T needed another thing to add to his tough guy resume, he was very good at football and at one point in time, it was almost his profession.
He even won a football scholarship to play for Prairie View A&M University in Texas. He also had a tryout for the Green Bay Packers, but failed due to a knee injury.
If things would have worked out differently for Mr. T, who knows, maybe he'd be your favorite NFL player!
Mr. T was a bodyguard before becoming an actor
Of course he was. Mr. T became a bouncer to earn steady income when his football career had ended. His tough persona quickly attracted club owners and eventually, more high profile clients.
Mr. T went on to be a bodygaurd for Steve McQueen, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Muhammad Ali.
Who would ever want to get into a fight with Mr. T?
He had a breakfast cereal named after him
Mr. T Cereal was manufactured by the Quaker Oats Company from 1984 to 1993. The cereal is said to taste like Cap'n Crunch. The cereal featured Mr. T as the mascot and was marketed to children.
It contained heaping amounts of sugar, just in case kids weren't sold. Mr. T stickers, comics and prizes also came in the box. Did you ever munch on some Mr. T Cereal?
He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame
Mr. T loves wrestling and so does one of his best friends, Hulk Hogan. Just in case you thought Mr. T couldn't get anymore tough, add WWE to his resume. He entered the world of professional wrestling in 1985 and was Hulk Hogan's tag-team partner during the first WrestleMania. (Which they won).
Muhammad Ali, one of the world's greatest boxers and one of Mr. T's former clients, was even a referee during one of Mr. T's matches.
In 2014, Mr. T was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
He had cancer
So by now you know that Mr. T is a dancer, a mascot, an actor and a wrestler, but most importantly, he's a cancer survior. In 1995, Mr. T was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
The A-Team star bounced back due to his great physcial and emotional health, but has inspired many to change their outlook during hard circumstances.
Mr. T was offered a job as a hitman
This somehow makes sense. And not as a hitman in a movie or TV show, but a real-life hitman. As Mr. T was building his reputation as a wrestler, bouncer and A-Team star, it wasn't unlikely that he would get strange offers and requests.
In his autobiography, Mr. T: The Man with the Gold, he mentioned the strangest offer came from an anonymous letter. In the letter they asked Mr. T to kill someone, offering him $75,000 and provided flight tickets.
No, Mr. T did not take that offer!
He has cut down A LOT of trees
He's a modern-day Paul Bunyan! His tree-cutting days started when he left college and entered into the military. He began in the United States Army in 1976.
During training, one of his punishments was to cut down trees until he was told to stop. He once cut down 70 trees in twelve hours. Like...how?