Age, Biography, and Wiki
Shirley Temple was born on April 23, 1928, and passed away on February 10, 2014, at the age of 85. She was a prominent figure in American cinema, known for her curly hair and charming on-screen presence. Her early life was marked by her rise to fame as a child actress, which significantly influenced her later career in public service.
| Occupation | Republicans |
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| Date of Birth | 23 April 1928 |
| Age | 97 Years |
| Birth Place | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Taurus |
| Country | U.S |
| Date of death | 10 February, 2014 |
| Died Place | Woodside, California, U.S. |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Although specific details about her height and weight are not widely documented, Shirley Temple was known for her petite stature and endearing appearance, which contributed to her on-screen charm.
At the height of her popularity, Temple was the subject of many myths and rumors, with several being propagated by the Fox press department. Fox publicized her as a natural talent with no formal acting or dance training. As a way of explaining how she knew stylized buck-and-wing dancing, she was enrolled for two weeks in the Elisa Ryan School of Dancing.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Shirley Temple married Charles Alden Black in 1950, and they remained together until his death in 2005. She was devoted to her family throughout her life.
Temple's mother encouraged her to develop her singing, dancing, and acting talents. At about this time, her mother began styling Temple's hair in ringlets.
"In almost all of these films, she played the role of emotional healer, mending rifts between erstwhile sweethearts, estranged family members, traditional and modern ways, and warring armies. Characteristically lacking one or both parents, she constituted new families of those most worthy to love and protect her. Producers delighted in contrasting her diminutive stature, sparkling eyes, dimpled smile, and 56 blond curls by casting her opposite strapping leading men, such as Gary Cooper, John Boles, Victor McLaglen, and Randolph Scott. Yet her favorite costar was the great African American tap dancer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, with whom she appeared in four films, beginning with The Little Colonel (1935), in which they performed the famous staircase dance."
On December 21, 1933, Temple's contract was extended to one year at the same $150 per week with a seven-year option, and her mother Gertrude was hired at $25 per week as her hairdresser and personal coach. Released in May 1934, Stand Up and Cheer! became Shirley's breakthrough film. She performed in a short skit in the film alongside popular Fox star James Dunn, singing and tap dancing. Fox executives rushed her into another film with Dunn, Baby Take a Bow (named after their song in Stand Up and Cheer!). Temple's third film, also with Dunn, was Bright Eyes (1934), a movie written especially for her.
After the success of her first three films, Temple's parents realized that she was not being paid sufficiently. Her image also began to appear on numerous commercial products without her legal authorization and without compensation. To regain control over the use of her image and to negotiate with Fox, Temple's parents hired lawyer Lloyd Wright to represent them. On July 18, 1934, Temple's contractual salary was raised to $1,000 per week, and her mother's salary was raised to $250 per week , with an additional $15,000 bonus for each finished film. Cease-and-desist letters were sent to many companies and the authorized corporate licenses began to be issued.
Temple's quota of films in each calendar year was increased from three to four in the contract that her parents signed in July 1934. Now and Forever starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard (with Temple billed third with her name above the title beneath Cooper's and Lombard's), The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, Curly Top (with the signature song "Animal Crackers in My Soup") and The Littlest Rebel were released after the contract was signed. Curly Top was Temple's last film before the merger between 20th Century Pictures and the Fox Film Corporation.
Heidi was the only other Temple film released in 1937. Midway through shooting of the movie, the dream sequence was added to the script. Temple herself reportedly was behind the dream sequence and she had enthusiastically pushed for it, but in her autobiography, she vehemently denied this. Her contract gave neither her parents nor her any creative control over her movies. She saw this as Zanuck's refusal to make any serious attempt at building upon the success of her dramatic role in Wee Willie Winkie.
In 1939, she was the subject of the Salvador Dalí painting Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of the Cinema in Her Time, and she was animated with Donald Duck in The Autograph Hound. In 1940, Lester Cowan, an independent film producer, bought the screen rights to F. Scott Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited for $80. Fitzgerald thought his screenwriting days were over, and with some hesitation, accepted Cowan's offer to write the screenplay titled "Cosmopolitan" based on the short story. After finishing the screenplay, Fitzgerald was told by Cowan that he would not do the film unless Temple starred in the lead role of the youngster Honoria. Fitzgerald objected, saying that at age 12, the actress was too worldly for the part and would detract from the aura of innocence otherwise framed by Honoria's character. After meeting Temple in July, Fitzgerald changed his mind, and tried to persuade her mother to let her star in the film. However, her mother demurred. In any case, the Cowan project was shelved by the producer. Fitzgerald was later credited with the use of the original story for The Last Time I Saw Paris starring Elizabeth Taylor.
As her contract with 20th Century-Fox was coming to a close, Temple's mother applied her for entrance into the Westlake School for Girls in September 1939. There, Temple would enroll as a seventh grader. Temple noted that she had difficulty adapting to a school environment after having spent much of her youth with adults and private tutors. However, her classmate June Lockhart described her as having "integrated herself right away" and seeming "delighted to be there". Temple frequently attended school dances and extracurricular activities, and according to Lockhart, "students did not treat her differently despite her successful film career." Temple graduated from the school in May 1945.
Shirley signed with MGM after leaving 20th Century-Fox. However, upon meeting with Arthur Freed for a preliminary interview, the MGM producer exposed his genitals to her. When this elicited nervous giggles in response, Freed threw her out and ended their contract before any films were produced. The next idea was teaming her with Garland and Rooney for the musical Babes on Broadway. Fearing that either of those two could easily upstage Temple, MGM replaced her with Virginia Weidler. As a result, her only film for MGM was the relatively unsuccessful film Kathleen, released in 1941. Miss Annie Rooney followed for United Artists in 1942, but was unsuccessful. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer starring Cary Grant and Fort Apache starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda were two of her few hit films in the 1940s. Her then-husband John Agar also appeared in Fort Apache. She and future U.S. president Ronald Reagan were both in That Hagen Girl (1947). She did not formally announce her retirement from full-length films until 1950.
In 2001 Temple served as a consultant on an ABC-TV film production of her autobiography, Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story. Directed by Australian director Nadia Tass and filmed by her husband David Parker, the film stars Ashley Rose Orr as Temple, Emily Anne Hart as teen Shirley, Connie Britton as Gertrude Temple, Colin Friels as George Temple, and Hinton Battle as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. It was filmed in Port Melbourne, Australia.
False claims circulated that Temple was not a child, but a 30-year-old dwarf, due in part to her stocky body type. The rumor was so prevalent, especially in Europe, that the Vatican dispatched Father Silvio Massante to investigate whether she was indeed a child. The fact that she never seemed to miss any teeth led some people to conclude that she had all her adult teeth. Temple was actually losing her primary teeth regularly through her days with Fox—for example, during the sidewalk ceremony in front of Grauman's Theatre, where she took off her shoes and placed her bare feet in the concrete, taking attention away from her face. When acting, she wore dental plates and caps to hide the gaps in her teeth. Another rumor said her teeth had been filed to make them appear like baby teeth.
In 1976, Temple was considered a potential running mate to Gerald Ford in that year's presidential election. While staying in Kansas City for the Republican National Convention, Temple and her husband were given a room with a White House telephone in it. Temple recalled that she speculated to her husband that the phone had been installed as Ford was about to ask her to be his running mate at the convention, however, the phone was disconnected. Bob Dole was instead chosen as the Vice Presidential nominee.
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| Husband | John Agar (m. 1945-1950) Charles Alden Black (m. 1950-2005) |
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Net Worth and Salary
At the time of her death, Shirley Temple's net worth was estimated to be $30 million. As a child actress, she was one of the highest-paid stars, earning $1,250 per week in 1934, which is equivalent to $22,000 today, adjusting for inflation. Before turning 14, she had earned approximately $3 million, equivalent to $34 million when adjusted for inflation. However, her parents managed her early earnings, and she discovered much of her childhood wealth was lost when she checked her finances at age 22.
Temple's salary was $2,500 per week by the end of 1935. Elaborate sets were built for the production at the famed Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, where a rock feature at the heavily filmed location ranch was eventually named Shirley Temple Rock.
Career, Business, and Investments
- Acting Career: Shirley Temple began her acting career at a very young age, signing a contract with Fox Films in 1934. Her breakthrough role was in "Stand Up and Cheer!" that same year. She went on to star in numerous films, including "Bright Eyes" and "The Little Princess," cementing her status as a child star.
- Public Service: After retiring from acting, Temple Black pursued a career in public service. She served as a diplomat for the United States, acting as a delegate to the United Nations and later as an ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.
- Business and Investments: Although specific details about her investments are not widely available, Temple's later life was marked by her involvement in public service rather than business ventures.
Temple began her film career in 1931 when she was three years old and became well-known for her performance in Bright Eyes, released in 1934. She won a special Juvenile Academy Award in February 1935 for her outstanding contribution as a juvenile performer in motion pictures during 1934 and continued to appear in popular films through the remainder of the 1930s, although her subsequent films became less popular as she grew older. She appeared in her last film, A Kiss for Corliss, in 1949.
She began her diplomatic career in 1969, when she was appointed to represent the U.S. at a session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she worked at the U.S. Mission under Ambassador Charles Yost. Later, she was named U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, and also served as the first female U.S. Chief of Protocol. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. After her biography was published, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989–1992).
After viewing one of Temple's Frolics of Youth films, Fox Film Corporation songwriter Jay Gorney saw her dancing in the theater lobby. Recognizing her from the screen, Gorney arranged a screen test for Temple for the film Stand Up and Cheer! (1934). Temple auditioned on December 7, 1933, and won the part. She was signed to a $150-per-week contract that was guaranteed for two weeks by Fox. The role was a breakthrough performance for Temple. Her charm was evident to Fox executives, and she was ushered into corporate offices almost immediately after finishing "Baby, Take a Bow", a song-and-dance number that she performed with James Dunn.
"She was also the most popular celebrity to endorse merchandise for children and adults, rivaled only by Mickey Mouse. She transformed children's fashions, popularizing a toddler look for girls up to the age of 12, and by the mid-1930s, Ideal Novelty and Toy Company's line of Shirley Temple dolls accounted for almost a third of all dolls sold in the country."
Alongside licensed merchandise came counterfeit items bearing Temple's likeness to capitalize on her fame, from dolls, clothing, and other accessories to even cigars with her face printed on the label. Temple lamented in her memoirs that it "made no economic sense" to pursue litigation against those who made unlicensed goods under her name; a successful lawsuit was filed by Ideal Toy Company against a certain Lenora Doll Company, which manufactured and sold Shirley Temple dolls without authorization, with Temple herself cited as a co-plaintiff befitting her celebrity status.
Temple had hoped after Ronald Reagan's victory in the 1980 presidential election that she would be given a cabinet position or another ambassadorship. Reagan did send Temple as his representative to Paris as part of American inaugural celebrations abroad, however, she was not given any new posting during the Reagan administration. Writer Anne Edwards suggested that this was because Temple had supported Reagan's rival, George H. W. Bush, in the 1980 Republican primaries. When rumours circulated that Reagan was planning to reappoint Temple as chief of protocol after Lenore Annenberg's resignation, Temple remarked that she didn't "believe in looking back".
She served as the United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (August 23, 1989 – July 12, 1992), having been appointed by President George H. W. Bush, and was the first and only woman in this job. Temple bore witness to two crucial moments in the history of Czechoslovakia's fight against communism. She was in Prague in August 1968, as a representative of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies, and was going to meet with Czechoslovakian party leader Alexander Dubček on the very day that Soviet-backed forces invaded the country. Dubček fell out of favor with the Soviets after a series of reforms, known as the Prague Spring. Temple, who was stranded at a hotel as the tanks rolled in, sought refuge on the roof of the hotel. She later reported that it was from there she saw an unarmed woman on the street gunned down by Soviet forces, the sight of which stayed with her for the rest of her life.
Social Network
Shirley Temple was not active on modern social media platforms during her lifetime, as they did not exist or were not widely used during her later years.
Education
Temple attended the Westlake School for Girls and later developed a passion for public service, which eventually led her to become a diplomat.
Shirley Temple's legacy extends beyond her net worth, as she remains an iconic figure in Hollywood history and a notable figure in American diplomacy. Her contributions to both fields continue to inspire new generations.
While at the dance school, Temple was spotted by Charles Lamont, who was a casting director for Educational Pictures. She hid behind a piano while he was in the studio. Lamont liked Temple and invited her to audition. He signed her to a contract in 1932. Educational Pictures launched its Baby Burlesks, 10-minute comedy shorts satirizing recent films and events, using preschool children in every role. In 1933, Temple appeared in Glad Rags to Riches, a parody of the Mae West feature She Done Him Wrong, with Temple as a saloon singer. That same year, she appeared in Kid 'in' Africa as a child imperiled in the jungle and in Runt Page, a pastiche of the previous year's The Front Page. The younger players in the cast recited their lines phonetically.
A rumor about Temple's trademark hair was that she wore a wig. On multiple occasions, fans yanked her hair to test the rumor. She later said she wished all she had to do was wear a wig, bemoaning the nightly process she had to endure in the setting of her curls as tedious and grueling, with weekly vinegar rinses that stung her eyes.
Temple became active in the California Republican Party. In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully in a special election in California's 11th congressional district after eight-term Republican J. Arthur Younger died of leukemia. She ran in the open primary as a conservative Republican and came in second with 34,521 votes (22.44%), behind Republican law school professor Pete McCloskey, who placed first in the primary with 52,882 votes (34.37%) and advanced to the general election with Democrat Roy A. Archibald, who finished fourth with 15,069 votes (9.79%), but advanced as the highest-placed Democratic candidate. In the general election, McCloskey was elected with 63,850 votes (57.2%) to Archibald's 43,759 votes (39.2%). Temple received 3,938 votes (3.53%) as an independent write-in.
