Mr. T. Turns 60: A Look Back at His Rise to Fame, from Bodyguard to Superstar

Mr. T. in a Childhood Portrait

Even as a child, it looks like nobody would want to mess with young Laurence Tureaud. He looks full of serious contemplation, which wouldn’t be an unreasonable assumption considering the difficult childhood he had as the second youngest of 12 children, barely surviving with an abandoned mother in the projects of Chicago. He managed to persevere and thrive! Happy 60th birthday, Mr. T!

mr t young high school yearbook photo 1969 portrait

Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Mr. T. (Laurence Tureaud), Junior Year, Dunbar Vocational High School, Chicago, 1969

Before he was Mr. T., this rough-and-ready bruiser was regular high school kid Laurence Tureaud. His father left the family when Laurence was 5, leaving his mother to raise all the children in a three-room apartment. Laurence tried to stay out of trouble in high school for his mother’s sake.

mr t young high school yearbook 1969 wrestling photo

Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Mr. T. (Laurence Tureaud), Wrestling Photo, Junior Year, 1969

Laurence’s older brothers encouraged him to work out and body-build in order to survive the tough neighborhood. This led him to become a city-wide wrestling champion two years in a row for Dunbar Vocational High School.

mr t young high school yearbook 1970 homecoming photo

Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Mr. T. (Laurence Tureaud), Homecoming, Senior Year, Dunbar Vocational High School, 1970

Sports wasn’t Laurence’s only interest in high school. Here we see him as an escort for his school’s homecoming festivities. Who would have thought this football hero would become the world’s most well-known bodyguard a decade later?

mr t young high school yearbook 1970 football photo

Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Mr. T. (Laurence Tureaud), Football Photo, Senior Year, Dunbar Vocational High School, 1970

Not only was Laurence (Mr. T.) a wrestling champion, he was cocaptain of the football team, #14. Here we see him strategizing for another aggressive play, most likely. His football prowess landed him a scholarship to Prairie View A&M University in Texas, where he majored in math for a year until he was expelled. He later enlisted in the Army.

Mr. T. as Leon Spinks’s Bodyguard, Circa 1970s

In 1978, Mr. T. got a big break, getting hired to guard boxing champion Leon Spinks for $1,000 a day. He stepped in front of the cameras to tell the press “that was enough” and ended up becoming a news story. Here is a segment from the E! True Hollywood story about Mr. T.’s rise to fame.

mr t sylvester stallone rocky 3 1982 movie photo

GLOBE PHOTOS, INC

Mr. T. as Clubber Lang in Rocky III, 1982

This is the role that made the tagline “I pity the fool…” famous. Mr. T. stars as Rocky’s near-lethal opponent and chief antagonist in the third installment of the Rocky series. In 1980, Sylvester Stallone first saw Mr. T. in an NBC special, America’s Toughest Bouncer. You’ve got to love 1980s programming.

mr t ricky schroder silver spoons tv show 1983 photo

Mr. T. Appears with Ricky Schroder in Silver Spoons, 1982

Mr. T. plays himself as the bodyguard of Ricky Stratton (Rick Shroder). In this episode, Edward Stratton (Joel Higgins) hires Mr. T. to protect Ricky after he gets a black eye standing up to a bully at school.

mr t the a team 1986 tv show series photo

GLOBE PHOTOS, INC

Mr. T. as Sergeant Bosco “B.A.” Baracus in The A-Team, 1986

Mr. T. in his signature role as the airplane-phobic (“I ain’t gettin’ on no plane!”) mechanical genius who could also beat up any bad guy—when he wasn’t getting hit in the head or drugged by his fellow mercenaries to get him on a plane. The A-Team ran from 1983 to 1987 on NBC. Watch his castmates find various ways to get him on a plane in this YouTube clip.

Mr. T. Promoting His Motivational Video Be Somebody… or Be Somebody’s Fool!

Mr. T. never forgot his roots in the Chicago projects. Although he managed to excel at sports, he was plagued with a bad attitude that caused constant confrontation with authority. He made this motivational video for kids to show them how to appreciate their heritage, deal with peer pressure, and control their anger. Watch Mr. T. rap in this clip.

Mr. T. in His Mister T Cartoon, 1986

From 1983 to 1986, Mr. T. also had his own cartoon, featuring him as a gym owner who heads a gymnasts’ team. As they go to competitions, they run into crime at every turn, forcing them to investigate and become amateur sleuths in the vein of Scooby Doo. Oh, yes, there’s also a dog that looks like Mr. T. Watch an animated Mr. T. perform a constant barrage of death-defying stunts in the first episode.

Mr. T. is T.S. Turner in T and T, 1988

The television series T and T ran from 1988 to 1990. Mr. T. is T.S. Turner, a former boxer accused of a murder he didn’t commit. Once his name is cleared, he becomes a private eye and helps others, kind of like The A-Team without the frills and distant locations.

mr t cloudy with a chance of meatballs movie 2009 voice photo

Columbia Tristar

Mr. T. as the Voice of Officer Earl Devereaux in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 2009

No stranger to animation, Mr. T. welcomed the family-friendly role of Officer Earl Devereaux, athletic cop and loving dad. This is Mr. T.’s most recent appearance on the big screen.