Shirley Temple received a special Juvenile Academy Award in February 1935 for her outstanding contribution as a juvenile performer in motion pictures during 1934.
75 Facts About Shirley Temple
2.
Shirley Temple capitalized on licensed merchandise that featured her wholesome image; the merchandise included dolls, dishes, and clothing.
3.
Shirley Temple appeared in 29 films from the ages of 3 to 10, but in only 14 films from the ages of 14 to 21.
4.
In 1958, Shirley Temple returned to show business with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations.
5.
Shirley Temple made guest appearances on television shows in the early 1960s and filmed a sitcom pilot that was never released.
6.
Shirley Temple sat on the boards of corporations and organizations, including the Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation.
7.
Shirley Temple began her diplomatic career in 1969, when she was appointed to represent the United States at a session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she worked at the US Mission under Ambassador Charles W Yost.
8.
Shirley Temple was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
9.
Shirley Temple is 18th on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female American screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema.
10.
Shirley Jane Temple was born on April 23,1928 at Santa Monica Hospital in Santa Monica, California, the third child of homemaker Gertrude Temple and bank employee George Temple.
11.
Shirley Temple's mother encouraged her to develop her singing, dancing, and acting talents, and in September 1931 enrolled her in Meglin's Dance School in Los Angeles.
12.
Shirley Temple hid behind a piano while he was in the studio.
13.
In 1933, Shirley Temple appeared in Glad Rags to Riches, a parody of the Mae West feature She Done Him Wrong, with Shirley Temple as a saloon singer.
14.
Shirley Temple became the breakout star of this series, and Educational promoted her to 20-minute comedies in the Frolics of Youth series with Frank Coghlan Jr.
15.
Shirley Temple played Mary Lou Rogers, the baby sister in a contemporary suburban family.
16.
Shirley Temple was lent to Tower Productions for a small role in the studio's first feature film, The Red-Haired Alibi, and in 1933 to Universal, Paramount and Warner Bros.
17.
Shirley Temple auditioned on December 7,1933 and won the part.
18.
Shirley Temple was signed to a $150-per-week contract that was guaranteed for two weeks by Fox.
19.
Shirley Temple's 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.
20.
Shirley Temple often played a precocious Cupid or a good fairy in these films, reuniting estranged parents or smoothing the wrinkles in the romances of young couples.
21.
On December 21,1933, Shirley 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.
22.
Shirley Temple performed in a short skit in the film alongside popular Fox star James Dunn, singing and tap dancing.
23.
Shirley Temple's image began to appear on numerous commercial products without her legal authorization and without compensation.
24.
In February 1935, Shirley Temple became the first child star to be honored with a miniature Juvenile Oscar for her film accomplishments, and she added her footprints and handprints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre a month later.
25.
Shirley Temple was said to be the studio's greatest asset.
26.
Shirley Temple was assigned bodyguard John Griffith, Zanuck's childhood friend, and at the end of 1935, Frances "Klammie" Klampt became her tutor at the studio.
27.
Heidi was the only other Shirley Temple film released in 1937.
28.
Shirley Temple's contract gave neither her parents nor her any creative control over her movies.
29.
Shirley Temple saw this as Zanuck's refusal to make any serious attempt at building upon the success of her dramatic role in Wee Willie Winkie.
30.
The film was successful, but because she made only two films in 1939, instead of three or four, Shirley Temple dropped from number-one box-office favorite in 1938 to number five in 1939.
31.
Shirley Temple appeared in two wartime hits: Since You Went Away, and I'll Be Seeing You.
32.
Shirley Temple was then lent to other studios for Kiss and Tell and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer starring Cary Grant.
33.
Shirley Temple warned her that she was typecast, and her career was in perilous straits.
34.
Shirley Temple announced her retirement from films on December 16,1950.
35.
Shirley Temple was the most popular celebrity to endorse merchandise for children and adults, rivaled only by Mickey Mouse.
36.
Shirley Temple 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.
37.
Shirley Temple endorsed Postal Telegraph, Sperry Drifted Snow Flour, the Grunow Teledial radio, Quaker Puffed Wheat, General Electric, and Packard automobiles.
38.
At the height of her popularity, Shirley Temple was the subject of many myths and rumors, with several being propagated by the Fox press department.
39.
False claims circulated that Shirley Temple was not a child, but a 30-year-old dwarf, due in part to her stocky body type.
40.
Shirley 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.
41.
Shirley Temple later said she wished all she had to do was wear a wig.
42.
Episodes ran one hour each, and Shirley Temple acted in three of the 16 episodes.
43.
Shirley Temple's son made his acting debut in the Christmas episode, "Mother Goose".
44.
Shirley Temple continued to work in television, making guest appearances on The Red Skelton Show, Sing Along with Mitch, and other shows.
45.
Shirley Temple ran in the open primary as a conservative Republican and came in second with 34,521 votes, behind Republican law school professor Pete McCloskey, who placed first in the primary with 52,882 votes and advanced to the general election with Democrat Roy A Archibald, who finished fourth with 15,069 votes, but advanced as the highest-placed Democratic candidate.
46.
Shirley Temple was extensively involved with the Commonwealth Club of California, a public-affairs forum headquartered in San Francisco.
47.
Shirley Temple spoke at many meetings throughout the years, and was president for a period in 1984.
48.
Shirley Temple got her start in foreign service after her failed run for Congress in 1967, when Henry Kissinger overheard her talking about South West Africa at a party.
49.
Shirley Temple was surprised that she knew anything about it.
50.
Shirley Temple was appointed as a delegate to the 24th United Nations General Assembly by President Richard M Nixon and United States Ambassador to Ghana by President Gerald R Ford.
51.
Shirley Temple was appointed first female Chief of Protocol of the United States, and in charge of arrangements for President Jimmy Carter's inauguration and inaugural ball.
52.
Shirley Temple bore witness to two crucial moments in the history of Czechoslovakia's fight against communism.
53.
Shirley Temple 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 Dubcek on the very day that Soviet-backed forces invaded the country.
54.
Shirley Temple, who was stranded at a hotel as the tanks rolled in, sought refuge on the roof of the hotel.
55.
Shirley Temple 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.
56.
Shirley Temple openly sympathized with anti-communist dissidents and was ambassador when the United States established formal diplomatic relations with the newly elected government led by Vaclav Havel.
57.
Shirley Temple took the unusual step of personally accompanying Havel on his first official visit to Washington, travelling on the same plane.
58.
Shirley Temple served on boards of directors of large enterprises and organizations, such as The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, Bank of America, Bank of California, BANCAL Tri-State, Fireman's Fund Insurance, United States Commission for UNESCO, United Nations Association and National Wildlife Federation.
59.
In 1943,15-year-old Shirley Temple met John Agar, an Army Air Corps sergeant, physical training instructor, and member of a Chicago meat-packing family.
60.
Shirley Temple married him at age 17 on September 19,1945, before 500 guests in an Episcopal ceremony at Wilshire Methodist Church in Los Angeles.
61.
On January 30,1948, Shirley Temple bore a daughter, Linda Susan.
62.
Shirley Temple divorced Agar on the grounds of mental cruelty in December 5,1949, and was awarded custody of their daughter.
63.
In January 1950, Shirley Temple met Charles Alden Black, a World War II Navy intelligence officer and Silver Star recipient who was Assistant to the President of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company.
64.
Black managed television station KABC-TV in Los Angeles, and Shirley Temple became a homemaker.
65.
At age 44, in 1972, Shirley Temple was diagnosed with breast cancer.
66.
At the time, cancer was typically discussed in hushed whispers, and Shirley Temple's public disclosure was a significant milestone in improving breast cancer awareness and reducing stigma around the disease.
67.
Shirley Temple announced the results of the operation on radio and television and in a February 1973 article for the magazine McCall's.
68.
Shirley Temple died at age 85 on February 10,2014, at her home in Woodside, California.
69.
Shirley Temple was a lifelong cigarette smoker but avoided displaying her habit in public because she did not want to set a bad example for her fans.
70.
Shirley Temple was the recipient of many awards and honors, including a special Juvenile Academy Award, the Life Achievement Award from the American Center of Films for Children, the National Board of Review Career Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
71.
On March 14,1935, Shirley Temple left her footprints and handprints in the wet cement at the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
72.
Shirley Temple was the Grand Marshal of the New Year's Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, three times in 1939,1989, and 1999.
73.
In February 1980, Shirley Temple was honored by the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
74.
Shirley Temple's name is further immortalized by the mocktail named after her, although Temple found the drink far too sweet for her palate.
75.
In 1988, Shirley Temple brought a lawsuit to prevent a bottled soda version from using her name.