Shirley Temple, The Incredible Life of a Legendary Child Star

Shirley Temple beloved American child actor started her career in film when she was just a toddler when she was a child Shirley Temple was so famous that she was considered the most popular actor of the nineteen thirty and she appeared in more photographs than even President Franklin D Roosevelt.

Despite her fame as a child however Shirley continued to leave her mark on America and the entire world throughout her life. Shirley temple's career began in 1932 when she was just four years old a casting director named Charles Lamont saw her practicing at dance school and he was immediately intrigued at the time he was casting for a series of short satirical films entitled baby burlesque's each film was based on a major motion picture film but used child actors instead of adults Charles Lamont cast Shirley Temple in the film war babies and from there her career took off after war babies she proceeded to act in an additional seven films within the baby burlesque series. While participating in the filming of baby burlesque's was wonderful for Shirley temple's career as an adult she was actually quite against the entire series as an adult she wrote in her memoir that the film's in the series were a quote cynical exploitation of our childish innocence that occasionally were racist or sexist after appearing in baby burlesque's Shirley Temple went on to act in dozens more films her first full-length film was stand up and cheer in 1934 she then proceeded to act in films such as Little Miss maker and now and forever one of her most famous starring roles was as Shirley Blake in the musical bright eyes her signature solo on the good ship lollipop was so popular that over 500,000 copies of the sheet music were sold she also won an honorary Academy Award for her performance Shirley temple's parents were very enthusiastic about their daughter's career and while they greatly encouraged her to accept more roles Shirley never felt pressured to act in fact even later in life she still felt heaps of gratitude toward her parents for their love support and encouragement. Shirley's mother Gertrude temple often spent a lot of time on set with her daughter to provide moral support one day however she left to do an errand when she came back she learned that Shirley Temple had become terrified by the director and had begun crying gertrude temple vowed from thereon to never leave her daughter alone on set again. Alongside providing support for her daughter Gertrude also painstakingly styled Shirley's hair for each role making sure to give her exactly 56 curls each and every time Shirley temple's final successful role as a child was in 1939 where she starred in the little princess she was 11 years old and when she turned 12 Shirley decided she wanted to move on with her life her parents supported her decision and helped her focus more on her education rather than film. In an interview with BBC Shirley Temple explained one of her reasons for choosing to focus less on film saying some people are stuck on this image of the little girl she is not me at the age of 16 Shirley Temple met a 24-year old Air Force sergeant named John agar jr. the two married in 1945 and together they had a baby girl named Linda Susan the two acted in two films together entitled Fort Apache and adventure in Baltimore tragically however John agar jr. succumbed to alcoholism and the two divorced in 1950.

This was the year that Shirley Temple announced her official retirement from acting although she would go on to host a few television shows later in life still there was a lot more to Shirley Temple than just acting and she knew she had many more talents she could offer to the world Shirley was known for her spunk and vivacity as a child and as a young adult she was no different though she had divorced at the age of 22 it wasn't long before she found love again Shirley Temple met Charles Alden Black while in Honolulu and according to Shirley it was love at first sight they married on December 15th of 1950 and the relationship was far more successful than the first the two stayed together for 55 years until Charles's eventual death in 2005. Two years after their marriage Shirley and Charles welcomed their first child together Charles Alden black jr. and 2 years later they had a daughter named Laurie Alden black for a few years Shirley decided to become a stay-at-home mom. Starting in 1958 Shirley decided to host a few different television shows and though she enjoyed doing this she couldn't help but feel she had different talents to offer after settling down in her new life as a mother Shirley knew it was time to begin a new career. In the 60s she became a strong voice for women and wasn't afraid to voice her feminist worldview. In 1967 she ran for a seat in California's Congress hopeful to become the only one of 38 seats unfortunately however she lost the election still her vibrant spirit was undeterred just two years later President Richard Nixon himself chose her as a delegate for the United Nations General Assembly and this was just the beginning of her political career. 

For a short time however Shirley temple's political life had to be put on hold in 1972 she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 44 at the time it was considered taboo to discuss breast cancer out in the open but Shirley knew that it was an important topic to speak out about she held press conferences and interviews urging others to perform self-examinations in order to catch cancer early on Shirley worked hard to spread awareness and shatter the idea that breast cancer was something that should be kept quiet true to her fiery spirit Shirley won her battle against breast cancer and before long she went right back into politics. From 1974 to 1976 Shirley was selected once again by a United States president this time President Gerald R Ford to become the United States ambassador for Ghana after her term as ambassador was over she was chosen to be the first female chief of protocol for the United States she became a feminist role model and icon for little girls throughout America upon receiving the position Shirley remarked it is a great honor to be the first woman chief of protocol for the United States of America. I don't know why mr. president it took 200 years for one of us to get the job but I will do all my very best work to try to fill in all the various assorted sizes of shoes of the distinguished men who have been chief of protocol. Many people aren't aware of Shirley's role in government but almost every American knows about the classic mocktail called a Shirley Temple. There are several rumors about how the drink came about one suggests that the drink was created by a bartender when Shirley Temple was younger and wanted a beverage that looked as fancy as the alcohol that the adults around her were drinking others claimed the drink was invented as a tribute to her. Unfortunately the exact origins of the beverage will forever remain a mystery still it is known at the very least that the drink was inspired in some way by the movie star Shirley Temple herself however wasn't particularly impressed by the drink she said in an interview once that everyone always offered her the beverage but she didn't actually care for the flavor she tolerated people handing her the drink but she eventually drew the line when companies tried to turn it into a profit several companies wanted to mass-produce the drink into a soda but Shirley was adamantly against it.

She didn't want her name to be associated with any brant and she was able to at least get the name change to Shirley tea rather than her full name. Shirley Temple went on to engage in many more diplomatic aspects of the US government and she became the ambassador for Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 as she grew older however Shirley was eventually diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and died on February 10 2014. She lived a full and wonderful life for 85 years however and brought so much optimism to the world starting out as a delightful child actor and eventually growing into a feminist ambassador and diplomat Shirley Temple was an inspiration for people around the world what part of Shirley temple's amazing life surprised you the most tell us in the comments.