She is survived by three children, one grandchild and two great granddaughters.
Temple was more than just “good.” She was the most recognizable child star of all-time –funny, wholesome and sometimes even a bit naughty.
Temple was one of Hollywood’s first superstars. And in the middle of the Great Depression, her on-screen adventures were a much needed diversion.
She made more than 50 movies, most filmed when she was between 4 and 10 years old.
“I think I was the luckiest child in America,” she said in 1989.
Shirley Jane Temple was born in 1928. She began her career in a series of short films, called “Baby Burlesques,” in which the three-and-a-half-year-old imitated some very grown-up ladies.
In one such film, she said, “I’m Polly Tix. Boss Flynn sent me over to entertain you.”
But it was her sweetness that eventually won out.
A string of hits made her the top movie star of the 1930s, earning $4 million by the time she was 12; that’s the equivalent of $64 million today.
She was known for her dimpled smile and her curls, exactly 56 of them every time, and a work ethic that outpaced most of her adult co-stars — something she remembered 50 years later when she remarked in 1989, “I started working at 3 and a half, and I learned that time is money, and it’s ‘work’, not ‘play.”‘
Even at a young age, Temple could learn pages of dialogue and complicated steps with some of the best dancers in Hollywood.
And she could turn on the tears at will, never failing to break her audiences’ hearts.
She often played an orphan, or the daughter of a single parent, usually changing the lives of those in trouble or despondent. She could get anyone to do anything for her.