Shirley Jane Temple Black (; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, politician, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was named United States Ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States.
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.Balio 227Windeler 26
Temple joined the Junior League of Palo Alto, California, in 1959 and shortly thereafter began a new chapter of public service, perhaps using a combination of her stardom and her leadership training to advocate for important causes.
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 penultimate U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989–1992).
Temple was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. In 1999, Temple is 18th on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female American screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema.
Early years
Shirley Jane Temple was born on April 23, 1928, at Santa Monica Hospital in Santa Monica, California, the third child of homemaker Gertrude Amelia Temple () and bank employee George Francis Temple. The family was of Dutch, English, and German ancestry.Edwards 15, 17Windeler 16 She had two brothers: John and George Jr.Edwards 15Burdick 3 The family moved to Rockingham Avenue, Brentwood, Los Angeles.A look at the late Shirley Temple's first home , Yahoo!. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
Temple's mother encouraged her to develop her singing, dancing, and acting talents.Edwards 29–30Windeler 17Burdick 6 At about this time, her mother began styling Temple's hair in ringlets.Edwards 26
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,Edwards 31Black 14Edwards 31–34Windeler 111 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.
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. Temple played Mary Lou Rogers, the baby sister in a contemporary suburban family.Windeler 113, 115, 122 Temple and her child costars modeled for breakfast cereals and other products to fund production costs.Black 15Edwards 36 She was lent to Tower Productions for a small role in the studio's first feature film, The Red-Haired Alibi (1932),Black 28Edwards 37, 366 and in 1933 to Universal, Paramount and Warner Bros. Pictures for various parts,Edwards 267–269Windeler 122 including an uncredited role in To the Last Man (1933), starring Randolph Scott and Esther Ralston.
Film career 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.
Roles
Biographer John Kasson argues:
Biographer Anne Edwards wrote about the tone and tenor of Temple's films:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt praised her performances, saying, "It is a splendid thing that for just 15 cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."Edwards 75–76
Finances
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.Barrios 421 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 specifically for her.Kasson 80–83
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 Loyd 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 authorized corporate licenses began to be issued.
Bright Eyes, written with her acting style in mind, was released in 1934Edwards 67Windeler 143 The film included the song "On the Good Ship Lollipop", which is considered to be her signature song. She was awarded a miniature Juvenile Oscar in 1935.Black 98–101Edwards 80Windeler 27–28
1935–1937 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.
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.Edwards 105, 363
Heidi was the only other Temple film released in 1937.Edwards, p. 106 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.
One of the many examples of how Temple was permeating popular culture at the time is the references to her in the 1937 film Stand-In; newly minted film studio honcho Atterbury Dodd (played by Leslie Howard) has never heard of Temple, much to the shock and disbelief of former child star Lester Plum (played by Joan Blondell), who describes herself as "the Shirley Temple of my day", and performs "On the Good Ship Lollipop" for him.
1938–1940
The Independent Theatre Owners Association paid for an advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter in May 1938 that included Temple on a list of actors who deserved their salaries while others' (including Katharine Hepburn and Joan Crawford) "box-office draw is nil".
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.E. Ray Canterbery and Thomas D. Birch, F. Scott Fitzgerald: Under the Influence, St. Paul, Minn.: Paragon House, 2006, pp. 347–352.
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.
1941–1950: Final films and retirement
After leaving 20th Century-Fox, Temple signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . However, upon meeting with MGM producer Arthur Freed for a preliminary interview, he allegedly exposed his genitals to her. According to Temple, when she responded with nervous giggles, Freed threw her out of his office and ended their contract before any films were produced. The next idea was teaming Temple with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland 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, Temple's only film for MGM was the unsuccessful film Kathleen, released in December 1941. Miss Annie Rooney (1942) distributed by United Artists, was also unsuccessful. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) starring Cary Grant and Fort Apache (1948) starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda were two of her few hit films in the 1940s.Windeler 49–52 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). Temple formally announced her retirement from films in 1950.Windeler, p. 71Black 479–481
Radio career