Eleven Things You Didn’t Know About Mr. T

Most people know Mr. T from his days as the cranky B.A. Baracus on television's The A-Team. he's also  known from movies, reality TV, commercials, and professional wrestling. Mr. T celebrates his 61st birthday today and so we celebrate with him by sharing eleven things from biography.com and idmb you didn't know about this colorful character.

1) His real name is Lawrence Tero Tureaud and he is the youngest boy in a family of 12 children. If you ask him his real name he will tell you his first name is "Mr." , his middle name is "period", and his last name is "T".

2) His father was a minister who left the family when Laurence was just five years of age. His mother raised the family in a three-room apartment on $87 a  month welfare.

3) He attended Prairie View A & M  University to major in mathematics, but was expelled after one year. After a short stint as a military policeman he decided to try out with the Green Bay Packers. A serious knee injury kept him from making the team.

4) In the mid 1970s he got a job as a doorman, and established his reputation as one of Chicago's toughest bounces. He started wearing gold jewelry, saying it came from misbehaving customers.Twice he was names America's Toughest Bouncer, and worked as a body guard for celebrities like Steve McQueen, Muhammad Ali, and Diana Ross. He adopted the moniker "Mr. T " with the idea it would force customers to show him respect.

5) When he adopted his trademark  hair style, he was trying to shave it into a "T". The effort failed so he turned it into a mohawk.

6) In a BBC run poll, he was voted the fourth most influential American in history behind Homer Simpson, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King.

7)The gold he wore on The A-Team varied in weight between 35 and 45 pounds.

8) Mr. T was diagnosed with cancer in 1995, but was declared cancer- free in 2001.

9) His big acting break when Sylvester Stallone cast him as Clubber Lange in Rocky III. He was asked to do a cameo for  Rocky Balboa in 2006, but it didn't work with his schedule. He says the first Rocky and Rocky III were the best in the series.

10) He doesn't drink alcoholic beverages

11) He's been known to be friendly to autograph seekers, but there is one cardinal rule. Do not disturb him when he's eating. "Pity the fool" who would dare to do such a thing.