The Only Main Actors Still Alive From The A-Team TV Series

If you had a problem in the world of '80s television, if no one else could help, and if you could find them, the A-Team was on the job. Pulling equally from cop dramas, classic Wild West shows, and "Mission: Impossible," the NBC series about a mercenary squad of wrongfully-criminalized Vietnam War veterans was an odd hit. For five seasons, John "Hannibal" Smith (George Peppard), B.A. Baracus (Mr. T), Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Dirk Benedict), and H.M. Murdock (Dwight Schultz) defended the little man and brought bloodless, FCC-approved action to TV screens across America.

The "A-Team" formula was rigidly adhered to from one episode to the next. A mom-and-pop something-or-other (Diner? Construction company? Taxi service? Farm? Lumber business?) is shaken down for protection money, or pressured to sell to some larger, ambiguous organization. The business gets trashed, the victims call in the A-Team, and the mercs trace the violence back to some mob boss or corporate schmuck while avoiding the military police.

Every episode is basically the same, right down to the team building some ridiculous contraption in the third act. The show's strength really came from the chemistry between its four stars, as well as some standout performances from the supporting cast. Over the years, several prominent "A-Team" actors have passed away, including Robert Vaughn, Lance LeGault, William Lucking, Jack Ging, and lead star Peppard. However, a lot of the major "A-Team" actors are thankfully still with us.

Aside from his instantly iconic role as Clubber Lang in "Rocky III" — the part that kick-started his career in show business — B.A. Baracus is certainly Mr. T's most famous character. Van driver, planet hater, and overall muscleman for the mercenary squad, B.A. wears many hats on the show, and Mr. T's natural onscreen charisma made him the perfect pick for the role. From the gold chains to the Mandinka warrior-inspired haircut, the actor brought a lot of his real-life persona to his performance as B.A.

The '80s were a big decade for Mr. T all around, with "Rocky III" and "The A-Team" launching him to stardom practically overnight. At the same time that he was starring on the NBC action series, he was voicing himself on the children's cartoon "Mister T," which ran for 30 episodes. When "The A-Team" ended in 1987, he quickly moved on to a new starring TV role, playing half of the detective team on "T. and T." for three seasons.

Since the '90s, Mr. T has stayed active, but his credits have mostly come via cameos or voice acting performances. He notably provided the voice of Earl Devereaux in 2009's "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," one of the biggest animated movies that didn't come from Disney. Decades into his career, Mr. T remains an absolute Hollywood legend.

Melinda Culea starred on "The A-Team" from the beginning of Season 1 through the middle of Season 2, playing shrewd reporter and secret team member Amy Allen. Her expulsion from the series is one of the big black spots on the show's legacy. A People story from 1984 detailed how she was written out due to disagreements over the direction of her character. Culea expressed frustration that Amy didn't have many lines and contributed little to the action — a common fate for female characters on TV at the time. She also held that four-time divorcee George Peppard had a problem with her from the start. Peppard fired back in People that Culea "came on the set frustrated, angry, a terribly discontented woman."

Her removal from the series without recompense is seen by many in retrospect as indicative of the show's larger problem writing women, with female characters generally existing as damsels, love interests, or prizes to be won. Culea continued to act prolifically on TV through the remainder of the '80s and early '90s, playing roles like Terry Randolph on "Glitter," Paula Vertosick on "Knots Landing," and Julie McPhail on "St. Elsewhere."

Today, Melinda Culea is largely retired. Her last starring role was Claire Roman in the two-season '90s sitcom "Brotherly Love," and her final acting credits came in 2001. Culea has continued channeling her artistic talent in the 21st century, but not in Hollywood. She's worked consistently as a writer and artist, publishing a book in 2016 and showcasing her art on her official website.

Dirk Benedict is the oldest living member of the main "A-Team" cast. He was already a big name on the small screen by the time he was cast as Face, the squad's resident conman, largely thanks to his previous starring role as Lieutenant Starbuck on the original "Battlestar Galactica." Prior to that, he starred on the short-lived ABC crime series "Chopper One" and appeared in films like "W," "Georgia, Georgia," and "Sssssss."

Benedict never regained the same kind of fame after "The A-Team" ended, though he has continued to work in both film and television over the years. His later film credits include the 1996 film "Alaska," the 2006 German film "Goldene Zeiten," and the 2019 sci-fi parody movie "Space Ninjas." He also had a brief cameo in the 2010 "A-Team" movie, in which his old character was played by Bradley Cooper.

TV-wise, Benedict popped in guest roles on some major series after "The A-Team," but never again as a main cast member. His credits later in the '80s and into the '90s include one-off turns on "Baywatch," "Walker, Texas Ranger," and two episodes of "Murder, She Wrote."

Unfortunately for his legacy, Benedict did some real damage to his reputation in 2006. In a blog post railing against his Starbuck character being a woman on the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot series, he complained that "40 years of feminism have taken their toll," and that "the war against masculinity has been won." The reboot is widely seen as superior to the original.

After Melinda Culea was prematurely dumped from "The A-Team," Marla Heasley was brought in to play Amy's substitute character, Tawnia Baker. She only appeared during the back half of Season 2 and the first two episodes of Season 3, which gave her a character a send-off (see: marriage) to explain her departure from the team. In total, Heasley played Tawnia on just 10 episodes, but that's still enough to earn her a spot on this "main cast" list. After all, she was properly part of the team.

After her time on "The A-Team" ended, Heasley continued acting for several years, but she retired in the early '90s. She made appearances on shows like "The Love Boat" and "The Highwayman," and in movies like "Born to Race" and "The Marrying Man." Her final credit came in the 1993 film "Amore!"

Nowadays, Heasley works as a nutritional health coach through her company Vive Health and Wellness. She's also active on Instagram and still talks about her acting career from time to time.

Ask any "A-Team" fan who their favorite character is, and you'll get Murdock as an answer a lot of the time. Dwight Schultz's manic comic relief character was an anchor for the series throughout its five seasons, with Murdock being both the team's pilot and bearer of the gag of the week.

Outside of his role on "The A-Team," Schultz is probably most famous (and even more so in certain circles) for playing Reginald Barclay in the Star Trek franchise. He first portrayed the character on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," returning over the years for turns in "Voyager," the movie "Star Trek: First Contact," and other projects. Despite a limited number of appearances, Barclay quickly became and has remained a fan-favorite Star Trek character.

In the 21st century, Schultz has become a prolific voice actor, playing characters across animated films, cartoons, and video games. His voice credits include "World of Warcraft," "Avatar: The Last Airbender," "Ben 10" (as Dr. Animo), "Chowder" (as Mung Daal), "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim," "Gears of War 3," and "Mass Effect 2," among many others. Other voice credits include the Netflix anime "Dota: Dragon's Blood," "Young Justice," and "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth."

On "The A-Team" Season 5, after the squad is saved from a firing squad execution by the mysterious General Stockwell (Robert Vaughn), they're turned into a team of top-secret government agents to work off their debt. They also get a new addition to the group in the form of Frankie Santana, played by Eddie Velez.

Prior to the role, Velez appeared in the film "Repo Man" and played Pepe Garcia on "Bay City Blues." His other '80s TV credits include "Berrenger's," "Cagney & Lacey," "Trial and Error," and "Charlie & Co." After his single season on "The A-Team," he moved on to roles like Officer Frankie Avila on the short-lived cop drama "True Blue," Agent Johnson in "Traffic," and Agent Vincent Gomez in "White Chicks."

Velez's career stalled a bit in the late 2000s, and he didn't do much acting in the 2010s. However, he's been back in action in the 2020s, with guest roles on "Deputy," "Interrogation," "The Cleaning Lady," and the CW Western series "Walker: Independence."