Hollywood Child Stars

Shirley Temple Filmography

Child actress, singer and dancer Shirley Temple starred in more than 40 movies and numerous short series films during her career. Her tight ringlets and adorable pout, together with her remarkable personality, made her popular on the big screen. Shirley has had the opportunity to work with such industry veterans as Carole Lombard, James Dunn, Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou. A typical formula existed for Temple’s films. She was almost always cast as a ragamuffin or an orphan with a sunny and optimistic disposition. Her characters were engaging and usually able to turn the meanest grouch into a sweet Santa Claus.

In short..
Very early in her career, Shirley Temple pushed the envelope. While employed by Educational Pictures, she starred in “Baby Burlesques”, a short subject film that satirized hot motion pictures. The series was dubbed controversial because it depicted child actors in adult situations. Shirley played a child sexpot impersonating the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Mae West. Her second short with Educational proved more traditional in nature and had Shirley cast as a bratty, younger sister in a suburban family.

Tap Happy
Shirley Temple films were a stronghold for American society during the Depression. She sang and tap danced in many of her films, but she is most famous for her heart-breaking rendition of “The Good Ship Lollipop”, which she performed in Bright Eyes (1934). Her singing and dancing not only entertained but also inspired a nation that was going through times of distress. Even in her earliest films, she was able to handle complex choreography. Shirley Temple had the opportunity to dance with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, a famous African-American dancer of the time, in films such as The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, and Just Around the Corner. Robinson was a major influence on Temple and created some of the dance steps for her later films. In some areas of the south, scenes in which Temple and Robinson held hands had to be omitted due to the era’s racial issues.

Temple left Fox in 1940 and attended high school at Westlake School for Girls. She made various films with many studios, including Paramount and MGM. Her most successful films at this time were Since You Went Away with Claudette Colbert, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, and Fort Apache. Despite her talent and ability, her fame began to wane. She retired from the film business in 1949.

Complete Shirley Temple Filmography

• The Red-Haired Alibi (1933)
• Out All Night (1933)
• To The Last Man (1933)
• Carolina (1934)
• Mandalay (1934) (Her scenes were later deleted)
• As The Earth Turns (1934)
• 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)
• 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) (unaccredited 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)
• Miss Annie Rooney (1942)
• Since You Went Away (1944)
• I’ll Be Seeing You (1944)
• 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)

Short Subjects

• Merrily Yours (1932)
• Kid’s Last Stand (1932)
• The Kid’s Last Fight (1932)
• Glad Rags to Riches (1932)
• Runt Page (1932)
• War Babies (1932)
• The Pie-Covered Wagon (1932)
• New Deal Rhythm (1933)
• Kid in Hollywood (1933)
• Polly Tix in Washington (1933)
• Dora’s Dunking Doughnuts (1933)
• Kid in Africa (1933)
• What’s To Do? (1933)
• Pardon My Pups (1934)
• Managed Money (1934)
• The Hollywood Gad-About (1934)
• Our Girl Shirley (1942)
• American Creed (1946)

More on Shirley Temple
Biography