Shirley Temple Black died on Monday night of natural causes at her home in Woodside, Calif., surrounded by family and friends, according to her publicist Cheryl Kagan.
Looking at headlines about today’s child stars gone to ruin, it makes you wonder if they broke the mold when they made Shirley Temple.
So many young stars, churned out today by networks like Disney, rather than the Hollywood studios or yore, seem to have strayed away from her shining example.
Over her career, Ms. Black starred in more than four dozen films, lent her voice to 36 movie soundtracks, and starred in her own television series from 1958 to 1961, according to IMDB.com.
Her good character and charm helped put smiles on the faces of American moviegoers during the economic depression of the 1930s, helping to bolster moral for a struggling nation.
After her movie career subsided, Black later went on to serve the US as a one-time ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and served as Chief of Protocol of the United States for 1976–1977, among other projects.
It seems that for today’s movie, TV, and music audiences, the role of the child star has transformed away from effervescent, intrepid, and innocent children toward more snarky, jaded, little adults – perhaps in the hopes of stretching the marketability of a child star well into young-adulthood.
Black proved through her life on screen and off that simple, sturdy values of a happy childhood can last a lifetime.
There’s a lot more to cute than meets the eye. In every film, Shirley Temple not only sang and danced at an adult pace and proficiency, but could take matters into her own little hands to solve problems. In "Early Bird," she gets herself up and ready for the day while singing and dancing through her morning routine.
