Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928), later known as Shirley Temple Black, is an American diplomat and former film child actress. She starred in over 40 films during the 1930s.
Temple began her career at the age of three, after being chosen from her dance class by a visiting director. Between the end of 1931 and 1933 she appeared in two series of short subjects for Educational Pictures.
While working for Educational Pictures, Temple also performed many walk-on and bit player roles in various other movies. She was finally signed to Fox Film Corporation (which later merged with 20th Century Pictures to become 20th Century Fox) in late 1933 after appearing in Stand Up and Cheer with James Dunn. She would stay with Fox until 1940, becoming the studio's most lucrative player. Her contract was amended several times between 1933 and 1935, and she was loaned to Paramount for a pair of successful films in 1934. For four solid years, she ranked as the top-grossing box office star in America. To hold on to her babyhood, Shirley's birth certificate had been altered. Only on her twelfth birthday did she realize she was actually thirteen.
Her popularity earned her both public adulation and the approval of her peers. Even at the age of five, the hallmark of her acting work was her professionalism: she always had her lines memorized and dance steps prepared when shooting began.
She was the first recipient of the special Juvenile Performer Academy Award in 1935. Seventy years later, Temple is still the youngest performer ever to receive this honor. She is also the youngest actor to add foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Temple's ability as a dancer (especially a tap dancer) is well known and celebrated. Even in her earliest films she danced, and she was able to handle complex tap choreography by the age of five. She was teamed with famed dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around the Corner. Robinson also coached and developed her choreography for many of her other films. Because Robinson was African-American, his scenes holding hands with Temple had to be edited out in many cities in the South.
Aside from the films, there were many Shirley Temple product tie-ins during the 1930s. Ideal's numerous Temple dolls, dressed in costumes from the movies, were top sellers. Original Shirley Temple dolls bring in hundreds of dollars on the secondary market today. Other successful Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and hairbows. Several of Temple's film songs, including "On the Good Ship Lollipop" (from 1934's Bright Eyes), "Animal Crackers in My Soup" (from 1935's Curly Top) and "Goodnight My Love" (from 1936's Stowaway) were popular radio hits. She frequently lent her likeness and talent to promoting various social causes, including the Red Cross.
In 1940, Temple left Fox. She juggled classes at Westlake School for Girls with films for various other studios, including MGM and Paramount. Her most successful pictures of the time included Since You Went Away with Claudette Colbert, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer and Fort Apache. She retired from motion pictures in 1949.
In the 1950s and 1960s, she made a brief return to show business with two television series. Shirley Temple's Storybook premiered on NBC January 12, 1958 and last aired December 1, 1959. Shirley Temple Theatre premiered on NBC September 11, 1960 and last aired September 10, 1961 (Also Known As: The Shirley Temple Show). Both shows featured adaptations of fairy tales and other family oriented stories.
Shirley Temple Black now lives in Woodside, California. Recently, she has teamed with Legend Films to release colorized versions of some of her early black and white films. These new versions have been released on DVD.
Source: Wikipedia
Official Website
Shirley Temple at the Internet Movie Database
Shirley Temple Fans.com
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