In recent television appearances promoting his ad campaigns for Lipton's and 1-800-COLLECT, Mr. T has begun spouting his new motto: "You've got to have a setback in order to have a come back."  The setback that put the 49-year-old former bouncer and perennial TV tough guy in the hospital was a rare cancer of the lymph system.  After it was detected in 1995, the cancer spread and the situation did not look good for Mr. T by the late 1990s—at the time, Entertainment Tonight reported that he was broke and his health was deteriorating.

But with a tenacity similar to that of his A-Team alter ego BA Baracus, Mr. T pummeled his cancer into remission.  Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in April 2001, Mr. T waxed philosophical: “'The only people that don't like a test is the ones that didn't study.' My test came in 1995 when I was diagnosed with cancer. That's where my faith comes from.”   With an abiding faith in his doctors, his family and God, Mr. T endured the pains wrought by the disease and the cancer treatments.  “I needed something to test my faith. I needed that fear, because I wasn't afraid of nothin',” he added.

With the illness hopefully behind him and his celebrity status on the rise again, Mr. T has popped up all over the big and small screens.  He starred opposite Corbin Bernsen in the film “Apocalypse: Judgment” (2001), has become the 1-800-COLLECT pitchman, and has appeared in commercials hocking everything from Lipton’s Sizzle and Stir meals to tickets for the Oregon State Lottery. (To view some of Mr. T’s ad spots, check out BA’s Page.)

Mr. T, back on top, healthy, and successful, has adopted another little rhyme: “You say, he’s big, he’s bad, he’s black, and he’s back: Mr. T!”

(Written July 01, 2001)

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