SERGEANT BOSCO "BAD ATTITUDE (B.A.)" BARACUS (played by Mr. T) B.A. has a tendency to punch out officers, and was generally considered a trouble-maker in 'Nam. He is a mechanical genius with the ability to do just about anything with a propane torch and some spare parts. His pride and joy is his black-and-red A-Team van. B.A. will not get on an airplane, especially when Murdock is the pilot, and generally needs to be drugged, or knocked over the head, in order to get on a plane. He loves milk and spending time with kids, and appears to spend most of his time while not with the Team helping out at a youth center in one of the poorer sections of L.A.
Words to live by:
- Shut up, fool!
- He's on the jazz, man!
- If that fools flyin', we dyin'.
- I die before I fly.
- You been greezin' your head with battery acid again?!
- Aw, Hannibal, is this one of your plans supposed to go down 1, 2, 3? You always forget 4, 5, and 6.
- Listen to me, we all gotta accept death, that way we don't have no fear, it gives us the edge.
- That night, there was a new private eye in town. His name was BA Baracus, and right now, he's lookin' down at the Maltese Fool, thinkin', maybe, he outta break his arm, and cause him serious pain.
(LIEUTENANT) COLONEL JOHN "HANNIBAL" SMITH (played by George Peppard)Hannibal is the leader of the A-Team. His rank seemed to fluctuate between Lt. Colonel and full Colonel. He is considered a maverick because of his reckless style and fondness for "classic half-pincer movements" and "through the front door" attacks. The service medals he earned during 'Nam and also the Korean War include bronze & silver stars, Korea Service, National Defense, Joint Service Commendation, the Soldier's Medal, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign medal with bar, Distinguished Service, US Army Commendation, Armed Forces Expedition, and the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Little is known about his family background, whether he had any siblings, and whether or not "John Smith" is his real birth name or not. While on the run from the military, he supplemented his income by appearing in monster movies. His most famous role is that of "The Aquamaniac." He has a passion for cigars.
Words to live by:
- Hickory dickory dock,
the mouse run up the clock,
the clock struck one,
down he run,
you smell worse than my socks.- Now, if you had taken the trouble to look, you would know that I've got an 8 round, 9mm, pointed at you under the table. Now the question is, which one of us is gonna get hurt worse when we open fire. Go ahead! Do it, Sucker!
- Don't ya love it! No matter how smart they think they are, they always screw up somehow!
- It's always darkest just before it goes completely black.
- I like to see the size of the slug I'm after before I step on it.
- Don't worry, BA. Your little red tennies will never leave the ground.
- I love it when a corpse comes apart!
- I love it when a plan comes together!
- We're like socks. You can put us through a rough wash once, but you'll never use us again.
- Tyranny is a state of mind, it's not a nationality. And if you don't stand up against tyranny it'll beat you every time.
- We're the neighborhood beautification committee. We clean up neighborhoods.
LIEUTENANT TEMPLETON ARTHUR "FACEMAN" PECK(played by Dirk Benedict)He was orphaned when he was approximately four years old. He is mentioned as living at two different orphanages: Sacred Heart(run by Father Magill) and Angel's Guardian. Peck may have been transferred from Sacred Heart to Angel's Guardian when he was in his early teens.
He went to college where he met Leslie Bektall, who ended up leaving him and leaving school in fact to become a nun. He then begins his career in the Army. Now, TAT was supposedly part of the Fifth Special Forces Group. Generally these Special Forces groups are trained at Fort Bragg and have on average three years of military service behind them...therefore it seems we may have to assume that he either showed exceptional abilities and advanced much quicker than usual through the system or he conned his way into Special Forces. We don't know much of anything about exactly when and how he ended up on TAT, although BA points out once that if Hannibal hadn't put Face into his unit in 'Nam (and thereby under his protective custody) he'd most likely be in jail already. So we can assume he was acting as a con man from early in life.
In the 5th season episode "Family Reunion," we also learn that Face's father was actually a man named "A.J. Bancroft," a man who was a wanted criminal for being involved in some sort of government conspiracy years before.
Words to live by:
- I lie, I cheat, I steal and I just don't get any respect.
- The Jazz is kinda like nature's way of sticking your finger in a light socket. Our problem is, Hannibal likes it.
- Don't you smile at me like that. That's not even a real smile. It's just a bunch of teeth playing with my mind.
- I like working for the church now and then, insurance against judgment day.
- See the key to any con is, placing the mark in a position where he thinks that reward will come, or harm will be avoided, if he does exacly as he is told by the character asumed by the conman.
- Hannibal, sometimes I think you're crazier than Murdock.
- Look to this day
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived,
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
CAPTAIN H. M. "HOWLIN' MAD" MURDOCK (played by Dwight Schultz)There is not much known on the background of Murdock, the Team's certifiably crazy pilot. No, his real first name was never revealed on the show, he might be named after Holland M. "Howling Mad" Smith, Marine General in the Pacific during World War II. Murdock's mother died when he was five. He was a member of the Thunderbirds before 'Nam, and during 'Nam he worked for the CIA on several missions. He resided at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Westwood, California. Fortunatly he is not wanted by the military police for the bank job because of his presumed insanity. Always suspected of keeping in contact with the Team but the MP's were never able to prove anything. He was "released" from the Hospital shortly after the Team's trial and escape from the firing line. He has an "invisible" dog named Billy.
Words to live by:
- I did not crash this plane! I simply landed it without the customary accompaniment of forward thrust or lift.
- If you hurt one hair on that girl's head, I will not eat. I will not sleep. I will find you. And when I do, I will feed your head to flies.
- I did what I did 'cause if I didn't do it, it wouldn't have gotten done, and might I add that not doing it at all would have been a lot worse than doing it badly, which I was not about to do.
- Thank you for flying miracle airlines, where lady luck is your co-pilot.
- I want you to be my role model, someone I can turn to when the purple wobblies start to wobble.
- What we need is a little distraction. . . You got an atomic bomb?
- Say, are we a groovy, happenin' bunch of guys, or what.
- I'm not nuts, I'm condiments. I've been promoted.
Conversational Pieces
- B.A.: I'm getting tired of this rap Murdock.
Murdock: You're getting tired, how do you think I feel? I have to listen to it all day!
- Face: Knock, knock!
Murdock: Who's there?
BA: We are, fool!- Hannibal: As my dear departed farther used to say, 'listen to the stream of a river and you'll fish out the trout'!
Bad guy: What does it mean?
Hannibal: I don't know. But I always liked it.- Lobster are red,
water are blue,
put your hands up,
and look behind you.
