Former child star Shirley Temple Black has died at 85

Shirley Temple Black was arguably the most famous Hollywood child star ever. But Temple, who died on Monday night at age 85, was much more than that. Temple walked away from the acting business when she was just 22 years old. Sure, the popularity she’d enjoyed as the star of countless films during the mid to late 1930s was waning a bit, but she decided to just get out for a time, instead of pursuing her adult acting career. She did star in a few things here and there, but eventually, she got on an entirely new career path.

Shirley Temple Black became famous as that adorable little girl with the perfect blonde ringlets when she was just six years old. Her two dozen successful films made her the biggest celebrity in the world for a time. She’s also credited as helping to save 20^th Century Fox from going under during the Depression. Can any of us name any celebrity now who has that kind of power? I know I can’t. And to be honest, until I read her stunning obituary in The New York Times, I honestly had no idea just how much Shirley Temple had done in her remarkable life.

In the 1960s, Shirley Temple Black got involved in politics. She was a huge fundraiser for the Republican Party, and in 1969, then President Richard Nixon appointed her as a delegate to the UN General Assembly. Over the next several decades, Shirley Temple served as ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia.

Along the way, Shirley Temple Black also served as president of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. She also battled breast cancer in the early 1970s publicly (back then, that was incredibly unusual). She held a news conference telling women everywhere to check for lumps. She was fearless, intelligent and obviously gifted.

After reading the NYT’s obituary on Shirley Temple Black, I fully intend to get a copy of her autobiography, Child Star. I’m ashamed now to admit that even though I’ve seen countless Shirley Temple films (my favorite will always be Curly Top), I knew very little about the remarkable woman she became.

Photo courtesy of the Connecticut Post