Shirley Temple

Actress, United States Diplomat. She is considered an icon of American cinema, she is arguably the most successful child film star in motion picture history. She started taking dancing lessons at the age of three, and had her first experience in motion pictures when she was chosen to appear in a series of films called “Baby Burlesks”, in which she was to imitate the top female stars of the time. She caught the attention of movie audiences with a dance number called “Baby Take a Bow” in the picture “Stand Up and Cheer” (1934). She soon became a source of relief for Americans during the Depression, and received a special juvenile Academy Award for her contributions to films that year. Four-years later she found herself at the top of the box-office attractions with immense public popularity. Among the classic pictures that were yielded during this period include “Little Miss Marker”, (1934), “Curly Top” (1935) and “Heidi” (1937). She sang what maybe her trademark song “Good Ship Lollypop” in the 1934 film “Bright Eyes” and would later performed highly-memorable dance routines with such stars as Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Budd Ebsen. In 1945 at the age of seventeen, she married actor John Agar and their union, which lasted until 1950, produced their daughter. She graduated to adult roles during the late 1940s and appeared in several pictures including “Fort Apache” (1948, with John Agar), however her popularity soon waned. She hosted and narrated a television series called “Shirley Temple’s Storybook” (1958 to 1961) and left the entertainment industry. In 1950, she married television executive Charles Alden Black, becoming known as Shirley Temple Black, and remained with him until his death in 2005. Their union produced a son and a daughter. During the 1960s, she became active as a Republican in the political arena and ran an unsuccessful campaign for election to the United States Congress. She was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon to represent the United States at the United Nations and from 1974 until 1976, she served as United States Ambassador to Ghana. From 1989 until 1992, she served as United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia. She was honored by the Kennedy Center in 1998 and received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.