Shirley Temple Black was a former child actress and United States diplomat

Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928), later known as Shirley Temple Black, is an American film actress and diplomat who is considered by many to be the most famous child actress in history.

Born in humble origins in Santa Monica, California, one of her first film roles was in Bright Eyes, for which she won a special Academy Award. It was in that film that she sang "On the Good Ship Lollipop "; though she often sang in her films, that was probably her most famous song. She subsequently starred in many films including Heidi , Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples , The Little Colonel , Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm , and Curly Top . By the mid-1930s she was the biggest box-office attraction in motion pictures, and the success of her films may have saved more than one major studio from bankruptcy during the Great Depression.

The role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, played by Judy Garland, was originally intended for her.

Temple retired from film acting in her early twenties after appearing in such successful films such as Since You Went Away, Fort Apache, and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer . Later appearances on television did not prove as popular as her films.

Temple was married first to actor John Agar ; she was then 16 and though they had one daughter, the marriage soon ended in divorce. She married the California businessman Charles Alden Black in 1950; they had two children. She may have looked favorably on his admission while dating that he had never seen any of her films.

She subsequently became involved in Republican Party politics under her married name, unsuccessfully entering a Congressional race in 1967. She went on to hold several diplomatic posts, representing the United States in the United Nations in 1969-70 and as America's delegate to many international conferences and summits. She was also appointed American ambassador to Ghana (1974-1976) and Czechoslovakia (1989). In 1976, she became the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States which put in her charge of all State Department ceremonies, visits, gifts to foreign leaders and co-ordination of protocol issues with all US embassies and consultates. She also served on the board of directors of some large enterprises including Disney, Del Monte, Bancal Tri-State and Fireman's Fund Insurance. She received Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.

Her non-profit board appointments included the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Council of American Ambassadors, and the World Affairs Council, the United States Commission for UNESCO, the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations, the United Nations Association and the U.S. Citizen's Space TaskForce.

Mrs. Black received honorary doctorates from University of Santa Clara and Lehigh University, a Fellowship from College of Notre Dame, and a Chubb Fellowship from Yale University.

Filmography

• What's Do Do? (1932) (short subject)
• War Babies (1932) (short subject)
• Polly Tix in Washington (1932) (short subject)
• Pie Covered Wagon (1932) (short subject)
• Merrily Yours (1932) (short subject)
• Kid's Last Stand (1932) (short subject)
• The Kid's Last Fight (1932) (short subject)
• Kid in Hollywood (1932) (short subject)
• Kid 'in' Africa (1932) (short subject)
• Glad Rags to Riches (1932) (short subject)
• Runt Page (1932) (short subject)
• The Red-Haired Alibi (1932)
• As the Earth Turns (1933)
• Out All Night (1933)
• Dora's Dunking Doughnuts (1933) (short subject)
• To the Last Man (1933)
• Managed Money (1934) (short subject)
• Pardon My Pups (1934) (short subject)
• Carolina (1934)
• Mandalay (1934) (scenes deleted)
• New Deal Rhythm (1934) (short subject)
• Stand Up and Cheer! (1934)
• Change of Heart (1934)
• Little Miss Marker (1934)
• Now I'll Tell (1934)
• Baby Take a Bow (1934)
• Now and Forever (1934)
• The Hollywood Gad-About (1934) (short subject)
• Bright Eyes (1934)
• The Little Colonel (1935)
• Our Little Girl (1935)
• Curly Top (1935)
• The Littlest Rebel (1935)
• Captain January (1936)
• Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
• Dimples (1936)
• Stowaway (1936)
• Wee Willie Winkie (1937)
• Heidi (1937)
• Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937) (Cameo)
• Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
• Little Miss Broadway (1938)
• Just Around the Corner (1938)
• The Little Princess (1939)
• Susannah of the Mounties (1939)
• The Blue Bird (1940)
• Young People (1940)
• Kathleen (1941)
• Our Girl Shirley (1942) (short subject)
• Miss Annie Rooney (1942)
• Since You Went Away (1944)
• I'll Be Seeing You (1945)
• Kiss and Tell (1945)
• American Creed (1946) (short subject)
• Honeymoon (1947)
• The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
• That Hagen Girl (1947)
• Fort Apache (1948)
• Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949)
• Adventure in Baltimore (1949)
• The Story of Seabiscuit (1949)
• A Kiss for Corliss (1949)

See also

A Shirley Temple is also a non-alcoholic cocktail named for the child actress. It was invented at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii.

In her youth, the then-actress dated James Freeman, while filming a movie in Hawaii. Freeman was living in the state while his father was Commander of the U.S. Naval Base there.

External links

• More complete biography
• Listing of Shirley Temple Movies