Shirley Temple, the girl who cheered up millions with her unselfconscious screen persona and went on in adult life to be a successful diplomat, has died of natural causes, it was announced today. She made her screen debut aged three and by the age of six was the biggest movie star in the world in such tailor-made vehicles as Stand Up and Cheer, Bright Eyes, The Little Colonel (pairing her with Bill Bojangles Robinson, who was the only star who could keep up with her celebrity wattage in subsequent movies), Curly Top, The Littlest Rebel, Wee Willie Winkie (directed by John Ford), Heidi, The Little Princess, Susannah of the Mounties and The Blue Bird.
These films were more or less interchangeable, but a depressed public lapped them up as just the tonic they needed. As she grew up, she remained popular only mostly for who she used to be than who she was becoming, with roles in Since You Went Away, The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer, That Hagen Girl (a notorious flop with Ronald Reagan), and Fort Apache failing to sustain a career she was losing interest in. After a brief marriage to John Agar (who was given a movie contract because of it) she married a millionaire, took his name to become Shirley Temple Black and forged ahead in Republican politics with special interest in women's health issues. At the peak of her fame, she was the daughter, granddaughter or sister the public always wanted and remains an icon.
