Shirley Temple
Born April 23, 1928 — Died February 10, 2014
Shirley Temple was an American actress, singer, and dancer who became the top box-office draw in Hollywood from 1935 to 1938 — at the ages of seven to ten. Her ringlet curls, dimples, and boundless talent charmed Depression-era America, and her later career as a diplomat added a remarkable second chapter to an extraordinary life.
The Little Girl Who Saved Hollywood
Born Shirley Jane Temple on April 23, 1928, in Santa Monica, California, she began dance lessons at age three-and-a-half. A talent scout discovered her at the dance school, and she began appearing in short films for Educational Pictures at age three. Her big break came when she was cast in Fox Film Corporation's Stand Up and Cheer! in 1934, at age five. Her number "Baby, Take a Bow" stopped the film and the studio immediately signed her to a long-term contract.
What followed was almost without precedent in entertainment history. Between 1934 and 1938, Temple appeared in a remarkable string of hits including Bright Eyes, Curly Top, Heidi, The Little Colonel, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. She received an honorary Academy Award (a miniature Oscar) in 1935 at age six, acknowledged by the Academy as "the outstanding personality of 1934." In all four of those years she was ranked the top box-office star in Hollywood, outgrossing Clark Gable, Fred Astaire, and Gary Cooper. Franklin D. Roosevelt himself said, "As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right."
Adolescence and the Hard Transition
The transition from child stardom to adult career is notoriously difficult, and Temple's experience was no exception. By the time she was a teenager, the magic that had made her irresistible as a curly-haired tyke no longer translated on screen. Her contract was not renewed, and a series of modest adult roles between 1940 and 1949 kept her in the public eye without recapturing her earlier peak. She married actor John Agar in 1945 but the marriage ended in divorce in 1950. She then married Charles Alden Black, a businessman with whom she would remain married for 55 years, until his death in 2005.
In the 1950s, Temple pivoted to television, hosting and starring in The Shirley Temple's Storybook anthology series (1958–1961), which became popular with a new generation of children. She demonstrated a versatility and resilience that belied the stereotype of the faded child star. The show earned her two Emmy nominations and kept her name prominent in American entertainment.
Did You Know?
Shirley Temple survived breast cancer in 1972 — and spoke publicly about it at a time when "cancer" was virtually never mentioned in polite society. Her candor is credited with encouraging thousands of women to seek medical checkups and is considered one of the first acts of celebrity health advocacy.
Diplomat and American Icon
Temple entered Republican politics in the 1960s and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1967. President Richard Nixon appointed her as a delegate to the United Nations in 1969. She served as U.S. Ambassador to Ghana (1974–1976) and as U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989–1992), earning high marks for her diplomatic competence and cultural sensitivity. She also served as the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States (1976–1977). Temple died on February 10, 2014, at age 85, at her Woodside, California, home. Her autobiography Child Star remains a fascinating account of her unique life in Hollywood and beyond.