Shirley Temple Black who as a child artist acted in many Hollywood movies in the 1930s and earned worldwide fame passed away at her home in Woodside, California. She died at the age of 85. She was born Shirley Jane Temple in Santa Monica California on April 23 1928.
She got her first opportunity to act at the age of three. People loved her for the bubbly characters she played in majority of her movies. She was multi-talented and juggled between the role of an actress, singer and dancer all at the same time. Her stardom during her peak was incomparable as she was the most popular star from 1935 to 1939 and not many starts could match her in terms of popularity during her peak years. She was given the Academy award at age of 6.
According to legend, she was the most photographed person in America eclipsing even then President Franklin Roosevelt. Her first biggest hit was the movie ‘Little Miss Marker‘. Her popularity started to fade as she grew old as people liked her only as a child artist and she retired from acting at the age of 22. She however made a successful comeback on television.
Thereafter, she began her successful diplomatic career. She was the US ambassador to Ghana for three years and then held the position of chief of protocol under president Gerald Ford from 1976 to 1977. She then worked as the US ambassador to Czechoslovakia under President George Bush senior in 1989 during the time of severe tension as Communism was falling apart in Eastern Europe. She was also responsible for getting rid of the taboo associated with breast cancer when she publicly acknowledged about her experience with the disease.
She was a great personality and would probably be remembered as one of the greatest Americans of her generation.