Fun Facts about American actress Shirley Temple

Search engine giant Google celebrates an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat Shirley Temple Black with an animated Doodle on June 9, 2021. On this day in 2015, the Santa Monica History Museum opened “Love, Shirley Temple,” a special exhibit highlighting a collection of her unique memorabilia.

Here is a look at the life and work of Shirley Temple.

Personal

• Other names: Shirley Temple Black
• Birthdate: April 23, 1928
• Birthplace: Santa Monica, California, U.S.
• Died on: February 10, 2014 (aged 85)
• Death place: Woodside, California, U.S.
• Father name: George Francis Temple
• Mother name: Gertrude Amelia Temple
• Spouse(s): Charles Alden Black (1950–2005), John Agar (1945–1950)
• Children: 3; Charles Alden Black Jr., Linda Susan Agar, Lori Black
• Nationality: American
• Sun sign: Taurus
• Education: Westlake School for Girls, 1945
• Famous as: Actress, Singer, Dancer, Businesswoman, and Diplomat
• Notable awards:
  • Juvenile Academy Award,
  • Life Achievement Award from the American Center of Films for Children,
  • National Board of Review Career Achievement Award,
  • Kennedy Center Honors,
  • Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award
  • Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement

25 Interesting and Fun Facts about Shirley Temple

1. Shirley Temple was born as the youngest child of Gertrude Amelia and George Francis Temple. Her dad was a bank employee while her mom stayed at home to deal with the house. She had two siblings.

2. She wanted to sing and dance from an early age and her mother encouraged her daughter’s interests and had her enlisted at Meglin’s Dance School when she was only three. Her fashion-loving mother styled Shirley’s hair in ringlets.

3. Educational Pictures saw the lovely little girl during an ability search at the dance school and signed her in 1932.

4. Shirley Temple’s initial assignments comprised of a series of one-reelers called ‘Baby Burlesks’ followed by two-reelers called ‘Frolics of Youth’ in which she played Mary Lou Rogers. She additionally demonstrated for breakfast cereals and different products during this time.

5. Shirley Temple made her feature film debut with a small role in the film ‘Red-Haired Alibi’ in 1932.

6. In 1933 Educational Pictures went bankrupt and Shirley Temple signed with Fox Films in 1934. Her film ‘Stand Up and Cheer!’ released the same year became her breakthrough film. The film was a success and everybody cherished the sweet and innocent little girl.

7. The year 1934 was an exceptionally busy one for the six-year-old. Shirley Temple showed up in a few movies including ‘Bright Eyes’ for which she depicted an orphaned child who is the centre of a fierce custody battle. This film was composed explicitly to showcase the child artist’s talents.

8. Shirley Temple played Elizabeth, a young orphan, in ‘Curly Top’ (1935). Her depiction of a sweet however naughty and energetic child was well-loved by the watchers. The film was a big commercial hit.

9. The characters offered to her were regularly that of orphans living in miserable conditions, or a child who played a role in uniting offended lovers. The vast majority of her movies had a fantasy element in them portraying the victory of good over evil.

10. Shirley Temple showed up in various movies over the late 1930s which included movies, for example, ‘Dimples’ (1936), ‘Heidi’ (1937), and ‘Little Miss Broadway’ (1938).

11. Shirley Temple’s first feature-length film “Carolina” is released. She additionally stars as Marky in “Little Miss Marker” and starts a seven-year contract with Twentieth Century Fox.

12. She was awarded a special Juvenile Academy Award in 1935 for her contributions to film in the year 1934, particularly ‘Little Miss Marker’ and ‘Bright Eyes’.

13. Shirley Temple’s 1939 film ‘The Little Princess’ was approximately founded on the novel of a similar name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film was a critical as well as commercial achievement. Shirley was at this point 11 years and this film was her final remaining one as a child artist.

14. It was believed that she would proceed with her success as a teenage actress, yet this was not to occur. She acted in two movies in 1940, the two of which were flops.

15. Shirley Temple’s parents wanted Shirley to focus on her studies and sent her to Westlake School for Girls when she was 12. After showing up in a series of movies that didn’t find real success at the box office, she retired from films in 1950.

16. Shirley Temple first got married when she was 17 to John Agar, an Army sergeant, in 1945. They had one daughter and divorced in 1950.

17. Her second marriage was to Charles Alden Black, a WWII United States Navy intelligence officer, in 1950. The couple had two children. They had a loving marriage that lasted for 54 years until Charles died in 2005.

18. Shirley Temple made a rebound to show business during the late 1950s and narrated an NBC TV anthology series of fairy tale adaptations called ‘Shirley Temple’s Storybook’. She likewise acted in three of the 16 episodes of the series.

19. During the 1960s Shirley Temple became active in politics and was selected as the United States ambassador to Ghana (1974-76) by President Gerald Ford. She additionally served as the United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989-92).

20. Shirley Temple played a little girl, Marky, who is held as collateral by a group of gangsters in ‘Little Miss Marky’. The film depended on a short story of a similar name by Damon Runyon. The film was extremely famous and has been changed a few times.

21. In the film ‘Bright Eyes’, Shirley Temple played an orphaned child, Shirley Blake. The film focused on the relationship between Shirley, her godfather, and an old uncle. The film had been created in view of specifically Temple.

22. Shirley Temple additionally served as the Chief of Protocol of the United States—the first female to hold that post. A multi-faceted personality, she was on the boards of directors of a few huge organizations including the Bank of America and The Walt Disney Company.

23. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1972 and had a successful recovery. After her treatment, she became one of the first famous women to openly discuss the disease through radio and TV.

24. Shirley Temple breathed her last on Feb 10, 2014, at Woodside, California, because of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

25. On June 9, 2021, Google featured Doodle on the homepage for celebrating Shirley Temple in honor of the opening anniversary of “Love, Shirley Temple”.