Iconic
child star Shirley Temple Black, who rose to stardom at a very young age by
starring in Depression-era films 'Bright Eyes' and 'Heidi', has passed
away at the age of 85.
She died at her
Woodside California home on Monday night at around 11 pm, surrounded by family
and caregivers, her agent said in a statement.
"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 55 years of the late and much missed Charles Alden Black,"
the statement read.
The
curly-haired star made her acting debut at the age of three, going on to
become the most famous child stars of
all times, by starring in
hits like 'Bright Eyes', 'Stand Up and Cheer' and 'Curly Top'. She ruled
Hollywood from 1935 to 1938, a feat that is yet to be matched by a child
star. The song 'On the Good Ship
Lollipop' in the film 'Bright Eyes' went on to become her signature tune. In
1935, she became the first child star to be honoured with a miniature
Juvenile Oscar "in grateful recognition of her outstanding
contribution to screen entertainment during the year 1934." She is still
the youngest person to receive the award the age of six. President Franklin
D Roosevelt had also acknowledged her influence. "It is a splendid
thing that for just fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the
smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles," he had said.
At
the peak of her career, many Temple products were released. Shirley Temple
dolls raked up USD 45 million in sales before 1941. Such was her influence that
she was even a subject of a painting by famous Spanish surrealist painter
Salvador Dali. She retired from films in
1950 at the age of 22, having appeared in 43 films, after a string of
unsuccessful movies at the box-office. Temple married actor John Agar at the
tender age of 17 and they had a daughter. After her divorce with Agar,
Temple married California businessman Charles Alden Black with whom she
remained until his death in 2005. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1972 and
was one of the first prominent women to speak openly about the disease after
undergoing a mastectomy.
Temple
unsuccessfully ran for the Congress in 1967 and was the US Ambassador to
Czechoslovakia shortly before the fall of the country's Communist regime.