Before the gold chains, the mohawk and the catchphrase that defined a decade, there was Laurence Tureaud. Netflix has released the official trailer and key art for Untold Mr. T: I Pity the Fool, a new documentary arriving on the streamer September 8.
The film tells the origin story of one of pop culture’s most unlikely and beloved icons, from his upbringing in a three-bedroom home on Chicago’s South Side, where he and his 11 siblings were raised by a minister father and devoted mother, to his football scholarship at Prairie View A&M University, his time in the Army, his rise as a celebrity bodyguard and his eventual breakthrough as Clubber Lang in Rocky III and B.A. Baracus on NBC’s hit series The A-Team.
In the mid-1980s, Mr. T was everywhere. Kids played with Mr. T dolls and ate Mr. T cereal. He starred in WrestleMania 1 and 2, guest-hosted Saturday Night Live and joined First Lady Nancy Reagan in her Just Say No antidrug campaign. His signature catchphrase became a defining quote of the era. “I never thought about the effect I would have on people,” says the 74-year-old icon. “It’s humbling.”
The documentary is directed by Scott Weintrob and produced by Studio Large Eyes, Pantheon Media Group and WWE Films. Executive producers include Weintrob, Steve Michaels, Ben Bitonti, Eden Sutley, Paul Levesque, Lee Fitting, Ben Houser, Marc Pomarico, Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens and Chapman Way and Maclain Way, who developed the Untold docuseries.
Untold Mr. T: I Pity the Fool is part of Untold‘s latest run of three standalone films premiering weekly on Netflix. Untold: The Testimony of Vince Young, about the turbulent rise and fall of the Texas Longhorns legend, premieres August 25. Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly, which goes inside the controversy surrounding Olympic breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn’s viral 2024 Paris Olympics debut, follows on September 1.
Untold Mr. T: I Pity the Fool premieres September 8 on Netflix.