Happy Birthday: Mr. T

May 21, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois, USA

[Playboy magazine – September 1983] 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.

I believe in the Golden Rule – The Man with the Gold… Rules.

I pity the fool… [his trademark quote]

When I was growing up, my family was so poor we couldn’t afford to pay attention.

As a kid, I got three meals a day. Oatmeal, miss-a-meal and no meal.

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 the 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.’ That’s a sign of respect that my father didn’t get, that my brother didn’t get, that my mother didn’t get.

You’re arguing over $45? My lunch cost $45!

I pity the fool who don’t read it [the Mr T Comic]! It’s gonna be pure gold!

Today’s action stars, they’re not a team. They’re in it for themselves. They may be A-Listers but they are not The A-Team (1983).

[on Rocky Balboa (2006)] I was asked to do it. Not do a fight scene but appear in a cameo. But it wouldn’t work out scheduling wise. I thought it was good but the fighter in it was weedy. The first Rocky (1976) and Rocky III (1982) are the best.