Shirley Jane Temple

Shirley Temple Black, beloved child star, died on Monday, February 10, 2014 at the age of 85.

America may remember Shirley Temple Black most for her iconic childhood acting roles, but this legendary child star had a lot more to offer, going on to a career in international diplomacy.

Shirley Temple’s run of non-stop hits in an amazing childhood acting career began with the movie “Little Miss Marker” in 1934. Her string of box office successes continued with memorable films like “Captain January,” “Poor Little Rich Girl, and “Wee Willie Winkie” - films that played an important role in keeping the distressed 20th Century Fox solvent. During the heyday of her career as a child actor, films such as “Curly Top,” “The Little Colonel” and “The Littlest Rebel” propelled her past popular stars Clark Gable, Mae West and Joan Crawford. Temple seemed like an unstoppable force, and in 1938 she earned more than $300,000 - a staggering sum for any actor in those times, and particularly for one who was only 10 years old.

Unfortunately for career, Temple starred in a series of box office flops starting with “The Bluebird” when she was 12. By 1945, Temple had been in a number of films that didn’t perform well, and she announced her official retirement from film acting in December of 1950. Temple’s career didn’t survive the transition to adulthood, but her childhood success was enough to cement her as America’s darling for generations.

In 1945, Shirley Temple married John Agar - the son of a wealthy Chicago Meat packer. The two starred in a few films together, but in 1949, she divorced Agar - and married Charles Alden Black in 1950. When her husband was called to active duty in the Korean War, Temple Black followed him to Washington. The Blacks moved to San Mateo, just outside of San Francisco, in 1954, and Shirley appeared on television shows periodically for the next decade, but never had a big hit.

By 1967, Temple Black had been involved in volunteer charity work and environmental causes for years, so she took the plunge and ran for Congress. She lost to Pete McCloskey, but she was active in Richard Nixon’s 1968 election, and was rewarded with an appointment as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations. This marked the beginning of a second important role she played for our country: as an international diplomat and ambassador. She subsequently served as a delegate to the International Environmental Council in 1972, an ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and an ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1988. Temple Black also served as the first woman chief of protocol under President Gerald Ford in 1976.

Shirley Temple Black and her husband Charles Alden Black remained married until his death in 2005. She is survived by her three children: Linda Susan Agar, Charles Alden Black and Lori Alden Black.