Sandyrella все записи автора Where Are They Now?
[20/1/2000]

For a "mindless" TV show, it was awfully clever. For an "excessively violent" show, it was bloodless. And for a show that critics often despised, it was exceptionally popular.

Those were some ironies of The A-Team (1983–87), the tongue-in-cheek action series about a squad of oddball mercenaries. Looking back, co-star Dwight Schultz lovingly describes it as "a living cartoon."

"TV critics didn’t like it because it wasn’t ‘quality programming,’" Schultz says. "And it was hated by certain organizations that considered it too violent--although it was harmless violence where no one ever really got hurt. But viewers loved it--and it’s because they got it."

Adds Dirk Benedict: "The reason the show worked wasn’t car crashes or explosions. It was the relationship between Hannibal [George Peppard] and Murdock [Schultz] and B.A. [Mr. T] and Faceman [Benedict]. These [were] four really weird characters with this chemistry that was eccentric and wild and combustible."

That’s why it’s debatable whether a feature film remake, discussed for years, would actually work. The original succeeded because it was just that--brashly original.

Peppard died in May ’94. But the other original cast members, including Melinda Culea (who played Amy, a newspaper reporter), are well and working.

Schultz, 53, still loves to perform onstage. But he’s better known as Lt. Barclay, a 10-year recurring TV role in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. Married since ’83, has one daughter..

Benedict, 55, became a published author in ’91, chronicling his bout with prostate cancer. When not working, he leads a secluded life with his two sons in Montana. Is making his directing debut with Cahoots, based on his own screenplay. Divorced in ’95.

Mr. T, 48, is also a cancer survivor (diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in ’95). Last year, he was seeking a publisher for Cancer Saved My Life. Single, father of three.

Culea, 45, played a TV mom in Brotherly Love (1995–97), her most recent series. Married since ’96.