You might recognize this A-Team guest star from this Eighties cult classic

Andre Gower bonded with B.A. before he battled the Universal Monsters.

In a third season episode of The A-Team called "Timber!," the team is called to help out lumberjacks battling a shady union organizer.

Along the way, B.A. Baracus befriends Billy, the son of the woman who hires the A-Team, and it’s a perfect example onscreen of how popular Mr. T was with kids.

Playing Billy in this episode is Andre Gower, an often-forgotten child actor who three years after he appeared on The A-Team starred in the Eighties cult classic The Monster Squad.

In The Monster Squad, Gower played bandleader to a crew of neighborhood kids tasked with fighting off some of the most famous movie monsters of all time: Count Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s monster — all the great Universal Monsters made appearances in the 1987 black comedy/horror movie.

Starring in The Monster Squad was the peak of Gower’s career as a child star.

His onscreen career started at the age of 6 when he played a small role in a 1979 holiday TV movie starring Fred Astaire and Gary Burghoff, The Man in the Santa Claus Suit.

He was following in his older sister Carlena’s footsteps. In the 1970s, her biggest role came in The Towering Inferno, when she played a little girl rescued by Paul Newman.

For Andre, the TV movie led to minor big screen roles and recurring roles on soap operas like Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless. 

By the time he was 10 years old in 1983, he’d join his first sitcom cast in the short-lived TV show Baby Makes Five, where he played sibling to child star turned folk singer Jenny Lewis.

When Andre’s sitcom got canned, he continued appearing on hit TV shows like The A-Team, Night Court and The Twilight Zone remake. He also guest starred playing William Shatner’s son on two episodes of T.J. Hooker.

By the time The Monster Squad came around, Andre was ready for his time in the spotlight. In 2009, he told The News and Observer why he thought the movie was different from other popular kids films from the Eighties.

"You had, you know, some kind of cheesy neighborhood movies that were kind of slick and more fantasy-driven – i.e. The Goonies – which everybody could watch," Gower said. "The Monster Squad was a little harsher and a little darker."

Reviewers dubbed Gower a "natural," with a critic in The Los Angeles Times describing his performance leading The Monster Squad as "likeably real and not maddeningly precocious."

After starring in The Monster Squad, Gower again returned to TV to join the cast of another failed sitcom called Mr. President, about a family living in the White House.

Following Mr. President, Gower made a few more TV appearances before he took a break from acting in 1989.

Just 16 years old but with a full career already, he focused on finishing school and later ran a TV and movie development company.

In 2006, he returned to acting in movies and remains active today.

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16 Comments

mcharris 27 months ago
Just Googled this actor as I haven't seen this movie. He's only 48 years old and is recovering from a massive heart attack. There was a Go-Fund-Me set up for him. Apparently, he is much better. This seems to have happened last year.
BenSchockley 27 months ago
I never saw the movie, but I remember Fred Grandy in the TV show!!
BrianMoore 27 months ago
The Monster Squad is a Halloween watching tradition for me.
Jeffrey 27 months ago
I just watched The A-Team episode ''TIMBER!'' and noticed the boy bond with B.A., But I never heard of him before now.
Michael 27 months ago
I'd love to see The Man in the Santa Claus suit again. So he plays Bert Convy's son.

Is he related to Old Man Gower in It's a Wonderful Life?

The Goonies was/is a wonderful film, and not "cheesy"
Matsui 27 months ago
Larry Storch died July 8, 2022, he was 99. RIP
MrsPhilHarris 27 months ago
I’m not familiar with that movie. 🤔
Zip 27 months ago
I remember liking this movie. Though, just as the child actor in the article referred to other cheesy movies of the time, I thought this one was a little cheesy as well.
Runeshaper 27 months ago
Never heard of that movie, but it sounds interesting!
Michael 27 months ago
Meanwhile, Larry Storch has died, at 99. He went to school with Don Afams. And has a long list of credits.
LoveMETV22 Michael 27 months ago
That is sad. Maybe MeTV will do a R.I.P. story for him tomorrow. He did appear on several series that MeTV broadcasts.
Michael LoveMETV22 27 months ago
Usually they are good at memorials. A couple of times recently, they'd post the story on the weekend.

I'msure it's just timing, andwill appear Monday.

As someone recently pointed out in a comment, Larry Storch was the Groovy Guru on Get Smart
Pacificsun 27 months ago
Thank you, MeTV Staff, for a neat article. Look how much time was spent on the details!

It's good news to see MeTV's ongoing enthusiastic promotion of the A-Team.!

As fans we hope its popularity earns a regular place in your PrimeTime schedule.
Jeffrey Pacificsun 27 months ago
Yes, Right! But they, MeTV, says it's, The A-Team, is on for only the summer. But they should make it on for good.
Pacificsun Jeffrey 27 months ago
Yeah, that's what they said about the Three Stooges too. And it's been on for 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 non-stop weekly.
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