Interview with George about dispute with Mr T

[peppardfan]

Has anyone read this interview before? It was a televised interview between Terry Wogan (now deceased respected journalist in U.K.) and GP over his fall out with Mr T. It never seems to be reported on much as to the reason for their fall out. I am assuming to bring him back they gave him the salary hike instead of firing people which may have escalated the whole thing. 

I know GP had a history of sticking up for the crew in his movie days so this would fit.

Have a read and let me know what you think?

TW: Its an ensemble of course, I mean your play in with three other people, I mean how did you all get on together, we have a picture of all four of you together (shown) yes there you are, were you all one happy team, or are you gonna tell us the truth? (laughter)

GP: Ah well the show is playing here in England I wouldn't wanna say anything to make it less pleasurable for the audience. We did have some difficulty, er.. because.. er.. Mr T got into a quarrel with the producers and executive producers and, er, he wanted to fire some of the crew, and that included a wardrobe lady, co-incidently who was born and raised in Britain, a very nice lady, and the sound crew, the second camera crew (laughter) and the unit manager.

TW: There wasn't a chance he was getting too big for his necklaces was there?

GP: Well you know, nobody likes to rock the boat in televeision and er.. Stephen Cannell who was the owner and co-creator of the series was prepared to replace thee people. We were all in a boat in the Mexican waters and when we got back they told me about it and I'd heard about it. He'd [meaning Mr. T] refused to shoot, and, um, I went into Mr Cannell's office and said, "If you have a list of 6, you may put George Peppard's name down as number 7, if you're going to fire them." He elected not to do that and er..that er, that was the right thing to do because, as you know and as we all know, the power of stardom is really a load of crap - and should be dealt with, properly and as a fellow worker. It did irritate me, um, I didn't speak to him for 16 weeks.

TW: He doesn't say a lot anyway.

GP: No. there's not a lot to say, but we got over that and we went about the show. The show comes first.

[amyk]

I don't remember hearing that any of their issues had anything to do with the potential firing of crew members. It's really hard to know the truth, but if that interview is legit, I also would hope that GP would not be lying, and I suppose he would have no reason to lie about all that, unless he just didn't want to look like the bad guy or something. I think some people believe that GP was jealous of Mr. T's fame, but I kind of wonder about that. At this point in GP's career, I am not convinced he would really be so jealous of Mr. T's fame. But I suppose anything is possible.

[peppardfan]

The interview is legit..GP was definitely over here being interviewed by Wogan. I have checked the TV listings and given the full transcript is seems that the content would be too. It's a wild accusation to make if it's not true..

I think GP was annoyed that Mr T got a pay rise out of it and given he was a classically trained actor that probably peeved him even more (esp since he was earning more than him).

In Ashley's biography she describes an incident where he threatened to walk out of a movie in Europe because the crew weren't being given hot meals..so it's consistent with that.

In another interview he stated that it eventually got sorted out after GPs health scare when he thought he was having a heart attack. He came back from vacation in Hawaii and sent Mr T a bunch of flowers because he said the whole thing had contributed to his stress levels. I often wonder if that was when the episode without GP was shot - when he was on a sun lounger and Murdoch was in trouble. It just seems out of character for Hannibal and a last minute improvisation?

[quartermaster22]

In case anyone never saw these (I can't remember what website they're from or who found them), here are a couple of brief "news" snippets that appeared in some weekly magazine in the fall of 1985. They definitely support GP's story.


"Table This, Fools!"

THE A-TEAM's two-hour season opener, shooting on the cruise ship Tropicale, bound for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, turned out to be no Love Boat. Insiders say that a disgruntled Mr. T refused to continue filming after he discovered a group of crew members sitting at his customary dinner table. According to reports, the crew members refused to budge and (believe it or not) made fun of Mr. T and a bodyguard---whereupon T demanded that the offenders be fired or he'd quit. They weren't. T, pleading illness, departed the ship. When stateside shooting resumed, T called in sick, but THE A-TEAM's producers, SJC Productions, were claiming that he'd be back to work when needed. Other sources said the producers had opted to shoot around Mr. T in hoped of putting him in later if and when he returned.

(Follow-up article that appeared in a subsequent issue of the magazine:)

"A Model T?"

Mr. T's back at work with his A-TEAM co-stars following a brief sickout (Grapevine, Aug. 31) But the old camraderie, say insiders, is lacking. T had demanded seven crew members be fired. They weren't, so T took a walk. Now we learn that T's Team-mate George Peppard threatened to quit if any of the crew members were let go. T is also said to have shocked his colleagues by charging fans a fee for autographed pictures of himself. The attitude on the set is now described as "professional and the work is getting done." T, through a spokesman, declined to comment.

Jun 3, 2017 22:33:55 GMT -5 peppardfan said:

In another interview he stated that it eventually got sorted out after GPs health scare when he thought he was having a heart attack. He came back from vacation in Hawaii and sent Mr T a bunch of flowers because he said the whole thing had contributed to his stress levels. I often wonder if that was when the episode without GP was shot - when he was on a sun lounger and Murdoch was in trouble. It just seems out of character for Hannibal and a last minute improvisation?

I think that's a terrific guess, peppardfan. GP said he didn't speak to Mr. T for 16 weeks... and WHEEL OF FORTUNE aired exactly 16 weeks after JUDGMENT DAY!

[sidney]

I do not believe it was over the mistreatment of workers. Would Mr. T have been that much of a horrible person? People sat at his table?!?! REALLY!?!?! And who are these 'fools' that when he asked them to move, they made fun of him? Where's the respect there? Maybe that's what this is about. What did they say? Maybe they were being racist? (Thinking worst case scenario and something that would have set Mr. T off.) I think I would have done the same in that situation.

[amyk]

Jun 3, 2017 22:33:55 GMT -5 peppardfan said:

The interview is legit..GP was definitely over here being interviewed by Wogan. I have checked the TV listings and given the full transcript is seems that the content would be too. It's a wild accusation to make if it's not true..

I think GP was annoyed that Mr T got a pay rise out of it and given he was a classically trained actor that probably peeved him even more (esp since he was earning more than him).

In Ashley's biography she describes an incident where he threatened to walk out of a movie in Europe because the crew weren't being given hot meals..so it's consistent with that.

In another interview he stated that it eventually got sorted out after GPs health scare when he thought he was having a heart attack. He came back from vacation in Hawaii and sent Mr T a bunch of flowers because he said the whole thing had contributed to his stress levels. I often wonder if that was when the episode without GP was shot - when he was on a sun lounger and Murdoch was in trouble. It just seems out of character for Hannibal and a last minute improvisation?

The episode when Hannibal is only a phone-in is WHEEL OF FORTUNE, and that would make sense perhaps with the timing of all of this.

Well, I think it is pretty neat that GP stood up for the crew!

[amyk]

Jun 4, 2017 5:08:11 GMT -5 sidney said:

I do not believe it was over the mistreatment of workers. Would Mr. T have been that much of a horrible person? People sat at his table?!?! REALLY!?!?! And who are these 'fools' that when he asked them to move, they made fun of him? Where's the respect there? Maybe that's what this is about. What did they say? Maybe they were being racist? (Thinking worst case scenario and something that would have set Mr. T off.) I think I would have done the same in that situation.

You bring in another perspective, sidney. I also hate to think that Mr. T would have wanted to have people fired just for sitting at "his table." Perhaps there was more to the story than what we know. If so, then I may need to re-assess that I think it was neat that GP was sticking up for the crew members....but I think we likely will never know the full truth. As in most cases, there may have been issues on all sides, i.e. perhaps nobody is completely blameless and what should have been a mild kerfuffle turned into a major incident.

[hasford1978]

It was only until 2006 I found out George and T didn't get on while watching Bring Back, it seems such a shame knowing that a bunch of TVs guys I grew up with didn't get on and bickered. The series was packed full of testosterone every episode and GP was a fully fledged movie star by the time the series started so he might've took an instant dislike to T not because of his skin colour (somehow I can't see GP being the racist type) but because kids loved and admired T and him being a good role model by not drinking, eating healthy and keeping fit/strong.
I was at primary school when the series was on, so I was between the ages of 5-10 years and I was greatly influenced by T and was in awe with him like most little boys back then so I can understand GP maybe being a little jealous plus GP probably felt threatened by the age difference?
GP would've been early 50s when the series started and T in his late 20s
T probably thought GP had already had his time with stardom and thought 'now this is my show and my time to make big money'

If it's correct about T wanting certain members of the crew fired that's not very professional and a shame indeed but I'm happy knowing GP was on the side of the crew

I wonder how Dirk and Dwight felt about the bickering between their co-stars because those two would've been in the middle of all that?

[dbp]

Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz tell a very different version of this story: GP had arranged to eat at the captain's table every day and have Mr.T's table moved farther and farther away every meal until Mr.T. had had enough and bailed.

They say the trouble started from the beginning when GP expected to be the star but everywhere they went people would be crying out Mr.T's name.

[amyk]

Welcome to the forum, dbp!