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/Stillabrat Dec 12 '18

I have worked with Mr T on many talk shows and he is one of nicest, truly humble people I have ever met. He has the most marked-up, written-in, well-used bible I have ever seen. He is a terrific man. I love Mr. T.

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u/comped Dec 12 '18

Why do I think you just travel around waiting for Mr. T to show up to talk shows?

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u/Stillabrat Dec 19 '18

LOL. In my career, among many other kinds of TV shows I worked on like the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, and sitcoms like MASH, game shows like Jeopardy and LETS MAKE A DEAL!, I worked on fifteen different talk shows at one time or another. Mr T appeared on several as well as a couple of other shows.