Shirley Jane Temple was an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former United States ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.
Temple began her film career in 1931 when she was three years old and became well-known for her performance in Bright Eyes. She won a special Juvenile Academy Award in February 1935 for her outstanding contribution as a juvenile performer in motion pictures during 1934 and continued to appear in popular films such as The Little Colonel, Curly Top, The Littlest Rebel, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Heidi (1938), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Miss Broadway, The Little Princess (1939), The Blue Bird (1940), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, Fort Apache, and her last film, A Kiss for Corliss, in 1949. In television, she hosted her own anthology series Shirley Temple Storybook from 1958 to 1961. She also stood inboard with many corporations such as The Walt Disney Company.
Connection to Disney[]
- She attended the 1937 premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and, in 1939, Temple presented Walt Disney with a special Academy Award for the film. This was a unique award, consisting of one full-size Oscar and seven "dwarf" statuettes.
- She endorsed merchandise for the Walt Disney Company and other companies, including Ideal Novelty and Toy Company's line of Shirley Temple dolls.
- She participated in the dedication of the Sleeping Beauty Castle attraction at Disneyland in 1957.
- She served on the Disney board of directors in 1974-75.
- Her autobiography, Child Star, was the basis of a telefilm, Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story, which aired on The Wonderful World of Disney.
She also appeared in the Donald Duck cartoon The Autograph Hound and the Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Polo Team. She was mentioned by Benny the Cab in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. She also made a cameo appearance (via archive footage) on Weebo's screen in Flubber. In addition, she was portrayed by both Emily Hart and Ashley Rose Orr in Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story.
Around 1949, Shirley also narrated a storybook of Dumbo on vinyl record. The recording was reissued in 1960.
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