Today our spotlight is on actor and former pro wrestler Mr. T!
Mr. T, then more commonly known as Lawrence Tureaud, got his start on NBC's Games People Play competing for the title of "America's Toughest Bouncer". Filmmaker Sylvester Stallone spotted him on the show and soon cast him as the character of Clubber Lang in the movie Rocky III. (This movie was also where his famous catchphrase-"I pity the fool"-originated!)
Mr. T is perhaps best known for his role of B.A. Barcus in the hit television series, The A-Team.
While starring on The A-Team, Mr. T took up professional wrestling. A major highlight of this venture was serving as Hulk Hogan's tag-team partner at the very first WrestleMania event.
He also starred in several public service announcements and other videos to promote good morals for children and youth.
In more recent years, Mr. T has made various television appearances and even had his own reality show, I Pity The Fool, for a little bit.
Mr. T's professional partner on Dancing With the Stars will be Kym Johnson-Herjavec, who last competed back in Season 20 with now-husband Robert Herjavec. Before appearing on the American version of DWTS she competed on the Australian version of the show, winning Season 2 with celebrity partner Tom Williams. After three seasons in her homeland, Kym began regularly appearing on the American edition and went on to win Season 9 with Donny Osmond and Season 12 with Hines Ward. She eventually went back to the Australian version of the show, this time as a judge!
Some highlights of Kym's time on DWTS include...
@TheBentleyNinja: Mr. T, in a way, has some secret weapons for Dancing With the Stars. Sometimes it’s said that actors will do well on the show because they can really perform, athletes will do well because they are athletic, and musicians will do well since they know rhythm. Well, Mr. T is all of those things and more! He even has the unique charismatic personality that can sway voters into falling in love with his progression on the show. And besides, he is a popular old school icon that a large part of the DWTS demographic is sure to love!
I didn’t actually expect Kym Johnson-Herjavec (yup, I just typed Herjavec… best DWTS couple ever!) to come back to the show as a pro dancer any time soon, especially since she has been more into the Australian version with her judging (Julia's note: Yeah that got cancelled, or I guess is technically "on hiatus" right now.) and doing other things with herself. Kym is a busy woman, and I’m surprised she was able to fit this into her schedule! I am really looking forward to how Kym works with Mr. T because I just know that they are going to have a blast in rehearsals!
I’m going to predict that Mr. T is going to get some okay scores and maybe make it about halfway through the competition. If this were a different season, I would say that he would possibly be eliminated earlier, but Season 24 has some tough competition!@juliadelbel: I'm very excited for Mr. T to be on Dancing With the Stars and for Kym to be back as a pro! I think these two are such a great match and will be a lot of fun to watch. Like Bentley, I didn't expect Kym to return right now, and I think this is probably a one-season deal, but since she left after Season 16 and came back two years later for Season 20 and is now back for Season 24 two years after that maybe if Dancing With the Stars is still on the air two years from now she'll come back for Season 28! :P
I think this couple's scores ware very likely to be closer to the bottom of the leaderboard than the top (Mr. T seemed pretty stiff in that dance video, and that was over a decade ago) but their personalities and fun dynamic while working together will probably get them a good amount of votes from viewers, and I can see them possibly sticking around longer than some stronger dancers because of that.
MONDAY: Another Spotlight post is cuchi-cuchi-coming your way!
No comments:
Post a Comment