1. Mr. T has 11 brothers and sisters and grew up in a three-bedroom apartment in Chicago.
Lawrence Turo, or Mr. T, as he is known, was born on May 21, 1952. In a family of 12 children, four girls and eight boys, he was the youngest. The apartment in which he lived was in a poorly built building, and the house itself stood in an environmentally dirty neighborhood. It was one of the largest and poorest neighborhoods in Chicago.
Crime in such a place was common - throughout his childhood, Mr. T. was a constant witness to it.
2 He took the name "Mr. T." to gain the respect of white
Lawrence Turo grew up with the feeling that his family did not get the respect they deserved at all, especially from whites. This played an important role in shaping the personality he created for himself. Here's how it was:
"My father was called 'boy,' my uncle and even my brother, who came back from Vietnam, he was also called 'boy.' So I asked myself: "What does a black man have to do before he earns respect as a man?" So when I was 18, when I was old enough to fight and die for my country, old enough to drink, old enough to vote, I said I was old enough to be called a man. I self-proclaimed myself. So, the first word of all is "mister." It's a mark of respect that my father didn't get, my brother didn't get, my mother didn't get."
3. mr. t. once cut down 70 trees in 3.5 hours
Mr. T. was once able to get into "the majors" by winning a soccer scholarship to Prairie View A&M University. It's hard to believe, but he majored in math at the university. But, alas, he was expelled a year later.
Then he enlisted in the U.S. Army and joined the military police. By the end of 1975, he received a letter of recommendation from his drill sergeant and was selected as the "Best Cycle Trainee" out of 6,000 enlisted men. As a result, he was promoted to squad leader.
One day in 1976, while Mr. T was at training camp in Wisconsin, his platoon sergeant chastised him and ordered him to cut down trees. The only thing the sergeant forgot to specify was how many trees to cut down. To everyone's surprise, Mr. T chopped down 70 trees in just 3.5 hours, all by himself. He stopped only after a shocked major ordered him to stop.
4. He copied his signature haircut from an African warrior
Many people refer to Mr. T's haircut as a Mohawk; in fact, it is not. One day in 1977, Mr. T was reading National Geographic and happened to see a picture of an African warrior who belonged to the Mandinka people. The warrior was standing with his spear, his neck hung with beads and his ankles covered with colorful accessories.
5. Mr. T's first ornaments were the lost things of men
After the Army, Mr. T almost made it to the National Football League, but a knee injury got in the way. Then he got a job as a bouncer. It was around this time that his image of gold chains and jewelry began to take shape.
The fact is that club customers were constantly losing their jewelry. It was these that became Mr. T's first accessories.
6. After working as a bouncer, he began a career as a bodyguard. He guarded Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson.
After working as a bouncer, Mr. T became a bodyguard, which he did for about 10 years. His clients included welfare recipients, prostitutes, bankers, preachers, shopkeepers and school teachers.
As his reputation grew, so did his clients: models, fashion designers, politicians, athletes, judges, and a bunch of millionaires.
7. During personal security, Mr. T was paid to kill
T's reputation as a bodyguard grew so much that he started getting offers to do other errands, such as searching for missing persons, collecting debts by force, and, of course, murder.
8. He won a contest to donate money to a church.
Mr. T was baptized when he was four years old. Like all children at that age, he could not yet understand Christianity. So later, in 1977, when he was older, he was baptized.
And one day, before he became famous, Mr. T entered a contest called "America's Coolest Bouncer." He called his pastor and said: "Pastor Hardy, they're having a contest, and when I win it, I'll give you the money so you can buy food and clothes for the less fortunate people."
9. In 1987, he angered Lake Forest residents by cutting down over a hundred oak trees on his estate
In 1987, Mr. T. cut down hundreds of trees around his Lake Forest, Illinois mansion. Such actions sparked outrage among residents-it went against their unspoken code of landscape beauty.
10. Mr. T stopped wearing his gold chains because of Hurricane Katrina
Mr. T's signature style includes gold chains. But since 2005, after he helped with the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Mr. T has given up his jewelry.
You must be logged in to post a comment.