Shirley Temple dies, aged 85

Hollywood icon Shirley Temple has passed away at the age of 85.

The former child star died of natural causes yesterday (February 10) at her home in Woodside, California.

“She was surrounded by her family and caregivers,” a statement said, before continuing: “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.”

Born on April 23, 1928 in Santa Monica, California, Shirley Temple began her film career at the age of three and received a special Juvenile Academy Award in 1935 for her work acting, singing and dancing in film hits including Bright Eyes, Curly Top and Heidi, which made her the top box office draw in Depression-era America.

“During this depression, when the spirit of the people is lower than at any other time, it is a splendid thing that, for just 15 cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles,” Franklin D Roosevelt said in 1935.

Perhaps inevitably, her popularity waned as she reached her teens and she later became a noted businesswoman, sitting on the boards of corporations including The Walt Disney Company and Del Monte Foods.

In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for United States Congress before reinventing herself again as a diplomat, being appointed US Ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and to Czechoslovakia in 1989.

She married twice and was wed to her second husband, businessman Charles Alden Black, for some 55 years before his death in 2005. She is survived by her three children.

Watch Shirley Temple perform one of her best-known songs, On The Good Ship Lollipop, in the 1934 film Bright Eyes below:

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLLSqpYyPD8[/youtube]