Hollywood Child Stars |
America’s Darling? Surely, it is Shirley Temple!
Well-remembered
for her unruly mop of curls and cheeky innocence,
Shirley Jane Temple enchanted audiences in the
1930s and was a shining beacon of joy and hope
during the dark days of the Depression. Shirley
Temple was born on April 23, 1928 in Santa Monica,
California, to banker George Francis Temple
and his wife Gertrude Amelia Krieger. Her mother
Gertrude loved to play the phonograph and it
is said that by the time Shirley was eight months
old, she would sway with the music in her crib.
By the tender age of three, she had already
begun dance classes at Miss Meglin’s Dance
School. There, she was discovered by a casting
agent from Educational Pictures, for whom she
worked from 1931 to 1933, starring in two short
series films.
The early days
While working for Educational Pictures, Temple
was also engaged for many walk-in parts and
small roles in films by other studios. She was
finally signed to Fox Films Corporation (which
merged with 20th Century Pictures to become
20th Century Fox) in 1933. She stayed with Fox
Films until 1940, quickly becoming the studio’s
most valued and lucrative asset. Her contract
was amended in 1933 and 1935, and she was loaned
out to Paramount Pictures for two successful
films in 1934. For four years, Shirley Temple
captivated America’s attention and support.
She was ranked the top grossing box office star
in America. To retain her child-like essence,
Temple’s birth certificate was altered,
changing her birth year from 1928 to 1929, a
fact Shirley was unaware of until her twelfth
birthday, which was in fact her thirteenth birthday.
By the age of twelve, the darling Shirley Temple
had starred in 35 movies. As a teenager, Temple
was dropped by Fox and picked up by MGM Studios.
America’s sweetheart
Shirley Temple’s hallmark, aside from her coveted precociousness,
was her professionalism. Even at the age of five, she was always well-prepared,
memorizing her lines and dutifully knowing the choreography for her dance
routines. From 1936 to 1938, Temple was the highest paid actor in Hollywood.
- To this day, she is the youngest person to ever receive an Academy Award.
- At six years old, she won an Honorary Juvenile Acting Academy Award and the Academy named her “the most outstanding personality of 1934”.
- Temple is also the youngest performer to have her hand and foot prints cemented at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
Shirley
says goodnight
As Temple’s womanly curves began to emerge,
her film career started to slow down. When she
was seventeen, she married John Agar, her schoolmate’s
much older brother. Agar was unable to cope
with Temple’s fame, and felt overshadowed
by her glory. He took to drinking heavily and
they divorced three years later. Temple fell
in love with Charles Black shortly after her
divorce, and after having her good friend J.
Edgar Hoover complete a background check on
Charles, she married him and became Shirley
Temple Black. She closed the chapter on acting
in 1949 and retired from Hollywood. However,
Temple’s life in the public eye was nowhere
near over. In 1958, she immersed herself in
the fight against multiple sclerosis for her
brother George Jr. She was the co-founder of
the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis
Societies.
From dancer to diplomat
Shirley Temple’s list of accomplishments in film is extensive, but
her résumé includes diplomatic pursuits that are very impressive.
- She was the U.S. representative to the United Nations under Nixon, ambassador to the Republic of Ghana under Ford, Foreign Affairs officer for the State Department under Reagan, and appointed ambassador to Czechoslovakia by George H.W. Bush.
- She was also the first female Chief of Protocol for the Whitehouse.
Shirley Temple is inarguably the most popular child star in history. More important is that she was the embodiment of optimism during a tumultuous time in American history. Her time on the silver screen may be over, but she continues to inspire the world with her diplomatic and charitable pursuits.
More on Shirley Temple
Filmography