Celebrity Nooz: Shirley Jane Temple

Shirley Temple (Actress) as Shirley - Bright Eyes

Updated: 7/8/2007

Name: Shirley Jane Temple

Born: April 23, 1928 in Santa Monica, California

Claim To Fame: We will always remember Shirley Temple for her curly hair, dimples cute voice and as the biggest child star to ever grace the silver screen.

She is also synonymous with the song 'The Good Ship Lollipop'

Family Life: Married to Charles Black (1950 - until his death in 2005) Married to John Agar (1945 - 1950) (divorced)

Has three children: Linda Susan Agar (1948), Charlie Black, Jr. (1952) and Lori Alden Black (1954).

Info: Who didn't love Shirley Temple in the movies. I just was watching a video on her career and she was just so darn cute. And of course TALENTED.

Shirley could do it all, act, sing and dance and all at the age of five. It's no wonder she was the box-office champion for three straight years, 1936-37-38, beating out such great grown up stars as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper and Joan Crawford. By 1939, her popularity declined.

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Trivia: It was once guessed that she had more than 50 golden curls on her head.

She was one of the first start to openly admit to a mastectomy, and encouraged other women who required the surgery to follow her example without fear.

She was supposed to play Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, The (1939), but 20th Century Fox refused to lend her to MGM

Says that she stopped believing in Santa Claus when she went to a department store to have her picture taken with him, and he asked for her autograph.

Her daughter "Lorax" (Lori Black) was the bass player for the rock band The Melvins .

When Shirley Temple was to play the part of the Beauty, in a production of "Beauty and the Beast", she was amused when her then, very young, daughter remarked: "Gee, Mom, you'll make a swell Beast!".

Auditioned twice to be in "Our Gang" / "The Little Rascals." She apparently failed the first audition, and made the second while she was appearing in the "Baby Burlesks" series. "Our Gang" director Robert F. McGowan refused to agree to Shirley's mother's request that Shirley receive star billing with "Our Gang," so she didn't get in.

Became a Dame of Malta, although NOT from the officially recognized Roman Catholic order -- but rather from a non-Roman Catholic unaffiliated entity.

Actresses Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were both named after her.

Has a soft drink named after her.

Appears on sleeve of The Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club"

The color "Temple Blue" was designed for her wedding.

She was voted the 38th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

When she was a teenager her body guard was Louis Dean Palmer, who she called 'Palmtree'.

At six became the youngest person ever to be presented with an Oscar

Premiere Magazine ranked her as #33 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).

Was named #18 Actress, The American Film Institutes 50 Greatest Screen Legends

Charles Black the San Francisco businessman she married after divorcing John Agar admitted to her while they were courting that he had never seen any of her movies.

Where Are They Now: From the 70's on she was active in politics. She served as ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia and held other government-related positions in the U.S.

Shirley keeps a low profile but she still will attend an occassional Hollywood function. In fact the pictures we have of her now are from an event she attended in the middle of 2006.

In November of 2006 Shirley broke her wrist in a fall at her North California home. Nothing to worry about... Shirley has bounced back from this.

Some of her more recent accolades:
2002 Shirley Temple monument erected on the Fox studio lot.
1999 Voted 18th of the top actresses before 1950 (AFI)
1998 Recipient of Kennedy Center Honors
1989 U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia
1976 U.S. Chief of Protocol
1974 U.S. Ambassador to Ghana
1969 Delegate to the United Nations

Her last contact with show business came in the late 1950's when she hosted (and frequently starred in) the TV anthology programs "Shirley Temple's Storybook" (1958-59) & "Shirley Temple Theatre" (1960-61).

Even still, decades after her retirement, she remains one of the most famous women in the world. Her autobiography, "Child Star," was published in 1988.

A few years back during the Academy Awards they had all former Oscar winners and when they announced her name, she garnered the biggest applause of the evening.

Write To Shirley Jane Temple:
Shirley Temple
c/o IA
1999 Avenue of the Stars #700
Los Angeles, CA 90067-6030

Secondary Address:
Shirley Temple
115 Lake View Drive
Woodside, CA 94062

Videos: Shirley Temple Dances With Mr. Bojangles
Shirley Temple War Babies

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