Shirley Temple passed away of natural causes while surrounded by her family at her home in San Francisco, CA on February 8, 2014. The 85-year-old retired actress was the queen of the box office back in the 1930s. Not even Clark Gable, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, or Gary Cooper could take the box office crown from the curly-haired cutie with the big smile and optimistic outlook on life.
Temple turned around a failing studio (20th Century Fox) with a series of successful movies in the 1930s, which lifted moviegoers’ spirits and made her a worldwide phenomenon. She continued occasionally acting as a teen, but after her films stopped being embraced by the public, she retired from acting in her early 20s.
In 1945, Shirley Temple married John Agar. The couple had one child, daughter Linda, before eventually divorcing in 1949. 1949’s also when Temple officially left movie roles behind. In December 1950, Temple wed businessman Charles Black in Carmel Valley, CA, after a short courtship. Temple and Black remained married until his death at 86 in 2005. Temple and Black had two children: Charles born in 1952, and Lori born in 1954.
“We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife for fifty-five years of the late and much missed Charles Alden Black,” said the family in a statement issued in response to Temple’s passing.
The Screen Actors Guild issued a statement about Shirley Temple:
“Shirley was a terrific actor whose vibrancy and brilliance set audiences on fire at a crucial time in our nation’s history. More important, she was a conscientious and caring citizen whose work on behalf of her union and her country exemplified true service. She’ll be greatly missed by so many, but never forgotten.
She was a true icon of the entertainment industry and beloved of our her colleagues in the acting profession. Shirley simply epitomized the word ‘star’. There are few more deserving of her accolades and I am personally so pleased that she was a recipient of our Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
In accepting her 2005 award from the union, Black said, ‘I’m indeed honored to receive the Life Achievement Award from my peers … When I was three years old, I was delighted to be told that I was an actress, even though I didn’t know what an actress was.
I’d been blessed with three wonderful careers: motion pictures and television, wife, mother and grandmother, and diplomatic services, for the United States government. I have one piece of advice for those of you who want to receive the Life Achievement Award: start early!’”
Our thoughts are with Shirley Temple’s family and friends at this difficult time.
