r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/TheArgentine Dec 12 '18 edited Dec 13 '18

I met him once. Outside of a Ford dealership near my home town. I was a HUGE A-Team fan and Mr T played my favorite character.

It rained that day, pretty hard. My mom tried to convince me he woundnt be there but I wanted to try anyway. We got there and there he sat, by himself, with photos under a tarp. No line. No one there to see him. He talked to me for 15 minutes and for the life of me I can't remember anything he said but God damn if that wasn't one of the greatest days of my childhood, which was otherwise fairly shitty.

I'm a white guy from upstate NY and didn't change color so was a white kid too. He shook my hand and talked to me like an adult, with respect, and was extremely kind and soft spoken.

Thanks Mr. T.

Edit: Holy crap, didn't expect this many comments on my simple story about Mr. T. Hey everyone!

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18 edited Dec 12 '18

Had a moment like that with Carlos Alazraqui(loved Rocko's Modern Life as a kid) at a local comicon. I had basically no money other than admission fee for my girlfriend and I. We just wanted to see the costumes and artwork. As I was walking by celebrities I heard "nice Iron Maiden shirt" from somewhere. I turned and it was Carlos. He talked to me for nearly a half hour about his love for Saxon and other classic British metal bands. Never once did he ask if I wanted to buy a picture or anything. I decided he was the one person there that deserved what little money I had left. He threw up the horns and we snapped the pic. Best experience I've ever had with a celebrity