Sergeant Bosco "B.A." Baracus
Nicknamed "B.A." on acount of his 'bad attitude' (he used to enjoy beating up senior officers whilst in Vietnam), B.A. is possibly
one of the nicest guys there is, devoting his little free time to helping poor children. B.A. is the team's mechanic and has a truly amazing talent for making impressive machinery
e.g. a tank from a standard pipe and the odd matchstick! And he managed to achieve this despite the weight of jewellery on his hands and around his neck - an amount that would have caused
any mortal man to just keel over.
Still, B.A. did have his one weakness - flying. He, on no accounts, would get on a 'plane while conscious ("I die before I fly"), so it fell to the rest of the team to knock him
out first (a swift tap on the back of the head with a wrench or an injection would usually do it). However, even though he wouldn't fly, he was the A-Teams driver and dedicated
a lot of time to the van. B.A. also never got along too well with Murdock who he would often call "a crazy fool" before trying to throttle him.
About Mr T.
Mr T. was originally named Lawrence Tureaud before he changed his name ("So white people would have to call me mister"). Here is some basic information about Mr. T:
Born : 21st May 1952.
Place of Birth : Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Spouses : Mr T. has never married.
Children : One daughter, born in 1971 from Phyllis Clark.
Although he was most famous as B.A. in The A-Team, Mr T. has had a number of other acting parts, including the role of Clubber Lang in Rocky III
(The role that led to his selection as B.A.). Here is a full list of his film and TV appearences:
-Apocalypse IV: Judgement (2001) - J.T. Quincy
-Saturday Night Live: The Best of Eddie Murphy (1998)(V) - Mister Robinson's Neighbour
-Spy Hard (1996) - Helicopter Pilot
-The Magic of the Golden Bear: Goldy III (1994) - Freedom
-Freaked (1993) - The Bearded Lady
-T. and T. (1988) TV Series - T.S. Turner
-Wrestlemania II (1986)(V) - Himself
-Wrestlemania (1985)(V) - Himself
-WWF Superstars of Wrestling (1985)(V) TV Series - Himself (1985-1986, 1988)
-The Toughest Man in the World (1984)(TV) - Bruise Brubaker
-D.C. Cab (1983) - Samson
-Mister T. (1983) TV Series - Himself
-The A-Team (1983-1987) TV Series - Sergeant Bosco "B.A." Baracus
-Twilight Theatre (1982) TV Series - (co-host)
-Rocky III (1982) - Clubber Lang
-Penitentiary II (1982) - Himself
Since his 80's heyday Mr T.'s luck has unfortunately been far from good. His acting appearences dried up in the 90's and in 1995 he was diagnosed with lymphoma (cancer of the lymph system), but,
characteristically, he has fought back and is now clear of the disease (but, as with all cancers there is a risk of it coming back). When he appeared on Entertainment Tonight in 1997 he spoke about the cancer and also
about his money problems, "I'm probably broke. I've probably got \\$200 in the bank.". But what of all the gold ("Remember the golden rule... the man with the gold... he rules!")? Well, apparently T. has given it
away to his family, "I gave it to my family for them to sell, make money, whatever they want to do," he says. "Material stuff... You can only take it to the grave, not past the grave". If only everyone was
as nice as that hero of the eighties - Mr.T.
Links
For more information on Mr. T go to The Mr. T Resource Archive.
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