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Photos: The remarkable life of Shirley Temple Black

February 11, 2014 12:02PM ET

Photos from the life of the child-star-turned-diplomat

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Culture
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Shirley Temple Black
Shirley Temple rose to Hollywood stardom in the 1930s, lifting the spirits of Americans during the Depression with her precocious skills as a singer and dancer. AFP/Getty Images
Shirley Temple Black
After appearing in a series of shorts, she got her first big role in “Stand Up and Cheer!” released in 1934. Everett Collection
Shirley Temple Black
In 1936’s “Poor Little Rich Girl,” speaking her mind to adults — a common theme in her films. Temple’s characters regularly demonstrated pluck and determination that soon made her into a star and, over time, an American archetype. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Shirley Temple Black
Temple with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson in perhaps their most memorable scene together, a dance on a staircase in “The Little Colonel,” 1935. She broke racial ground by holding hands onscreen with Robinson, her co-star in four films. Everett Collection
Shirley Temple Black
In “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,” 1938, Temple charmed audiences as a young orphan who overcomes adversity and greed after winning an audition to represent a breakfast cereal. Everett Collection
Shirley Temple Black
On her eighth birthday, in 1936, photographed by famed Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. In the late 1930s Temple was the most popular star in Hollywood. (Clark Gable was second.) Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Shirley Temple Black
Getting a tour of the Department of Justice from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1938. As a kind of Hollywood ambassador, Temple met with many of the top figures of her day, well beyond the confines of the studios. Thomas D. McAvoy/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
Shirley Temple Black
In Moscow in 1965. In 1950, Temple left the world of movies and married Charles Alden Black, following him to Washington, where he was stationed at the Pentagon as a Navy lieutenant commander. She grew interested in politics and international affairs. Brian Calvert/AP
Shirley Temple Black
As Shirley Temple Black, she ran for Congress, going after the seat opened by the death of Rep. J. Arthur Younger, R-Calif., in 1967. She lost. Robert Klein/AP
Shirley Temple Black
Black made news in 1972 when she appeared before the press after having an mastectomy, at a time when operations for breast cancer were not discussed openly. During the press conference, she urged all women to search for lumps and not be afraid of the disease. Sal Veder/AP
Shirley Temple Black
In 1974, Black was appointed ambassador to Ghana. Here she speaks to a crowd in Cape Coast, surrounded by local dignitaries. Her strong performance as a diplomat in Ghana led to a more prestigious post, with George H.W. Bush naming her ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1989. AP
Shirley Temple Black
Black was the recipient of an honorary Academy Award at the age of 6 and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2006, among other honors. She was 85. Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images