H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock
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Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock is a fictional character in the 1980s action/adventure television series, The A-Team. He was played by Dwight Schultz.
The A-Team is a group of ex-United States Army Special Forces who were wrongly convicted of a crime during the Vietnam War. Managing to escape from the military police, they fled to Los Angeles, where as fugitives, the A-Team work as soldiers of fortune, using their military training to fight oppression or injustice. Murdock, along with Hannibal Smith, B.A. Baracus, and Templeton "Faceman" Peck make up the A-Team. Although Murdock was not convicted of any crime, as the other three were, he is still a full-fledged member of the team.
Considered the best chopper pilot of the Vietnam War, Murdock is either mentally unstable or exceptionally good at pretending to be. He is stated as having paranoid delusions and intermittent memory loss. Although he was the A-Team's pilot on the mission to rob the Bank of Hanoi (the crime for which they were convicted), he was never tried by the military. He is interned at a psychiatric hospital, although he routinely escapes (generally with the help of Face) to accompany the A-Team on their missions. The symptoms of his "insanity" vary from episode to episode, but include self-identification with fictional characters, hallucinations, belief in the "intelligence" of inanimate objects, among others. He often "channels" a certain character for the duration of a mission (much to the chagrin of B.A.) or becomes fixated on a particular subject to the point of obsession. He also frequently refers to his invisible dog, "Billy". B.A., uneasy with Murdock's unusual behavior, is easily angered by Murdock and regularly refers to him as a "crazy fool".
Murdock is almost always seen in a ball cap, a customized A-2 leather flight jacket with a picture of a tiger and the words "Da Nang 1970" on the back, and a pair of Converse All-Star shoes. He also often wears a t-shirt with a comical caption or a picture of a cartoon character on it. Although he was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, he is easily capable of flying anything with rotors or wings, including passenger planes, fighter jets, and even autogyros. Interestingly, unlike B.A., the initials H.M. were never explained in terms of what Murdock's actual first and middle name were, and the nickname "Howlin' Mad" were simply attributed to them (although it is rumoured that his name comes from World War II Marine Corps General Holland M. Smith, aka "Howlin' Mad", a nickname given by his troops).
It was revealed in the first season that Murdock and B.A. share the same blood type—AB negative, the rarest type. In the episode "Black Day at Bad Rock", B.A. receives a transfusion from Murdock, who was sprung from the hospital for just that, despite B.A.'s protests (fearing that Murdock's blood will make him "crazy"). This was again referenced in the second season finale "Curtain Call" when, in an unusually touching moment between the two, B.A. voluntarily offers to donate his own blood to save Murdock.
Due to his nature, many of the details of Murdock's life are unknown, or possibly embellished. If he is to be believed, Murdock's mother died when he was five (although they still keep in touch), and he was raised by his grandmother (who is supposedly named "H. Emma Murdock") and his grandfather. In one episode in the third season, B.A. says that Murdock went insane after his plane crashed. The exact state of his insanity is never made clear, though he occasionally implies that his insanity is his ticket to his "room and board". Despite his purported mental status, Murdock is a thoroughly competent member of the team, when needed to be. Indeed, because he is not actually wanted by the military, Murdock is often the only team member to evade capture by a given episode's antagonists (or the military police), and he has single-handedly rescued the other team members several times.
Murdock actually has extensive knowledge of various subjects and keeps up on current events, showing a genius level aptitude. He speaks several languages including Spanish, Vietnamese and Mandarin Chinese. In the second season episode "The Maltese Cow", Murdock says, "What can I say? One day I had a gonzo headache and before it went away I could read and speak Chinese. And it was a bad afternoon, too, lemme tell you." He also seems capable of a photographic memory. He is also a talented actor and often accompanies Face on his scams. He is capable of impersonating the voices of famous individuals and mimicking many different foreign accents. He is even hinted as having some form of ESP, as in one season five episode, he is able to refer back to a conversation he had with B.A., even though the exchange took place during a dream that B.A. had.
One particular insight into Murdock's unique world view comes during the season five episode "Trial By Fire". Murdock is asked to take the stand at the A-Team's murder trial and give testimony about his helicopter flight following the Hanoi bank mission. The testimony takes the form of a surreal flashback from Murdock's perspective in which Murdock himself (wearing a grey wig and Biggles-style flight jacket) and his female co-pilot come under attack from The Spanish Armada, a sea serpent, and a tribe of Native Americans mounted on horseback, while Murdock spouts melodramatic dialogue.
Murdock was permanently discharged from the mental institution in the fifth season.
Murdock appeared on The A-Team from the series beginning in 1983 until its cancellation in 1987.
