Shirley Temple Black, who as a dimpled, precocious and determined little girl in the 1930s sang and tap-danced her way to a height of Hollywood stardom and worldwide fame that no other child has reached, died on Monday night (February 10, 2014) at her home in Woodside, California She was 85.
Mrs. Black returned to the spotlight in the 1960s in the surprising new role of diplomat, but in the popular imagination she would always be America’s darling of the Depression years, when in 23 motion pictures her sparkling personality and sunny optimism lifted spirits and made her famous. From 1935 to 1939 she was the most popular movie star in America, with Clark Gable a distant second. She received more mail than Greta Garbo and was photographed more often than President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
When
she turned from a magical child into a teenager, audience interest
slackened, and she retired from the screen at 22. But instead of
retreating into nostalgia, she created a successful second career for
herself.
After
marrying Charles Alden Black in 1950, she became a prominent Republican
fund-raiser. She was appointed a delegate to the United Nations General
Assembly by President Richard M. Nixon in 1969. She went on to win wide
respect as the United States ambassador to Ghana from 1974 to 1976, was
President Gerald R. Ford’s chief of protocol in 1976 and 1977, and
became President George H. W. Bush’s ambassador to Czechoslovakia in
1989, serving there during the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.
After winning an honorary Academy Award at the age of 6 and earning $3 million before puberty, Shirley Temple grew up to be a level-headed adult.
Watch any of her films and be astounded with her talents and with the good cheer you will undoubtedly feel...she'll always be America's sweetheart. MORE HERE & HERE
Shirley Temple : Oh My Goodness
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm DVD
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