Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple, or Shirley Temple Black (April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, diplomat and television series hostess. Temple has the distinction of being the first Academy Juvenile Award recipient in 1934.

Acting career

Movies 
Temple began her movie career at age 3 in a series of Poverty Row shorts starring very young children clad in diapers.  In 1934, she soared to superstardom in Bright Eyes. Other movies followed that exploited her waiflike charm and abundant talent such as Curly Top, The Little Colonel, Dimples, Wee Willie Winkie, and The Little Princess.

The public adored the child Temple, but her popularity declined as she grew into a young woman. She made several bombs in her teens, but three have become highly regarded classics: Since You Went Away, Fort Apache with Henry Fonda and John Wayne, and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. Temple married John Agar in 1945. In 1950 she married Charles Black and retired from the movie industry at age 22.

Television 
Marriage and motherhood occupied Temple in the following years, but she returned to show biz in the late 1950s with the television series, Shirley Temple's Storybook for NBC. The series was child/family-oriented with dramatizations of fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast, children's stories like Pippi Longstocking, and more mature fare like The House of Seven Gables and Victor Herbert's Broadway musical, Babes in Toyland.  Celebrity stars like Charlton Heston, Tor Johnson, Sterling Holloway, Elsa Lanchester, and Agnes Moorehead appeared in the series. The series was nominated for an Emmy Award in children's programming. It faced stiff competition from other networks, and left the air after two seasons.

Politics 
Temple became active in the Republican Party in California. In 1967, she unsuccessfully ran for the United States House of Representatives. Temple was extensively involved with the Commonwealth Club of California, a public-affairs forum in San Francisco.  She spoke at several of the meetings through the years and served as its president in 1984.

Temple was appointed Representative to the 24th United Nations General Assembly by President Richard M. Nixon (September – December 1969), and was appointed United States Ambassador to Ghana (December 6, 1974 – July 13, 1976) by President Gerald R. Ford. She was appointed first female Chief of Protocol of the United States (July 1, 1976 – January 21, 1977), and was in charge of arrangements for President Jimmy Carter's inauguration and inaugural ball. She served as the United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (August 23, 1989 – July 12, 1992), having been appointed by President George H. W. Bush.

Illness and death 
Temple had breast cancer in the early 1970s and had a mastectomy. She died on February 10, 2014 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at her Woodside, California home, at the age of 85.

Other websites 

 "Official site" (Legend Films memorabilia and merchandise site authorized by Shirley Temple Black)
 
 
 ShirleyTempleFans.com
 Female Frontiers QuestChat Archive: Shirley Temple  and biography 
 Shirley Temple movies for free download
 Shirley Temple Theatre 
 Shirley Temple's Storybook 
 Photographs of Shirley Temple

References

Academy Award winning actors
Actors from Santa Monica, California
American child actors
American child singers
American movie actors
American television actors
Ambassadors of the United States
Breast cancer survivors
Deaths from COPD
Infectious disease deaths in the United States
Politicians from California
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Singers from California
US Republican Party politicians
1928 births
2014 deaths