Shirley Temple: Her Remarkable Journey and Tragic End

Shirley Temple was born in Santa Monica, California, on April 23, 1928, to George and Gertrude Temple. When she was just three years old, talent scouts discovered her at her dance school, leading to her first appearance on screen in the short film 'Poverty Row.'

However, she became truly famous with the 1934 film 'Bright Eyes,' where her performance of 'On The Good Ship Lollipop' became unforgettable for many people around the world.

With her curly hair, angelic face, and checked pinafore dress, Shirley Temple's unforgettable performance made her one of the biggest box office stars of her time. By the end of the year, she was ranked eighth on the list of the world's top ten moneymaking stars. In 1935, at just six years old, she became the youngest actor to win an Academy Juvenile Award. Her handprints were placed in cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood alongside the biggest stars of the day.

Shirley Temple starred in films like 'Curly Top' and 'The Littlest Rebel,' helping Americans get through the Great Depression and becoming a huge sensation. Mothers dressed their daughters like her, and Shirley Temple dolls became popular collectibles. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right." She was also credited with saving 20th Century Fox from bankruptcy when the company owed $42 million.

From 1935 to 1938, Shirley Temple was the world's number one box-office star, even surpassing Clark Gable. Her earnings were placed into a trust, and she only received $13 a month as an allowance. Her mother, Gertrude, made sure she wasn't spoiled by fame and was always present during filming to support her daughter.

Her career faltered in 1939 when Fox refused to loan her to MGM, causing her to lose the lead in 'The Wizard of Oz' to Judy Garland. She struggled to maintain her cinematic career in adulthood but continued to work in television. Despite retiring from Hollywood in 1950, Shirley Temple starred in 43 feature films.

In 1945, when she was just 17, Shirley Temple married her first husband, John Agar, a sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps. They had a daughter named Linda. The couple divorced four years later due to Agar's drinking and infidelity.

In 1950, while on holiday in Honolulu, Shirley Temple met California businessman Charles Alden Black, who had never seen her films. They married in December, had a son, Charles Jr., in 1952, and a daughter, Lori, in 1954, living in Woodside, California. They were married for 55 years until Charles's death in 2005 from bone marrow disease.

Shirley called him the "love of her life" and kept his voice on their answering machine. In 2006, accepting a lifetime achievement award, she said her greatest roles were as wife, mother, and grandmother.

Although she had mostly retired from showbiz, Shirley Temple's interest in politics brought her back into the spotlight in the early 1960s. She made an unsuccessful bid as a Republican candidate for Congress in 1967. After Richard Nixon became president in 1969, he appointed her to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. In the 1970s, she served as U.S. ambassador to Ghana and later to Czechoslovakia during the administration of the first President Bush.