Childhood star Shirley Temple died Tuesday at the age of 85 in her home in California due to natural causes. Temple was the number one box-office attraction in the late 1930s, singing and dancing her way into the hearts of hard-pressed American audiences during the Great Depression.
At a time when candy was a luxury many American families could not afford, Temple sang of bonbons, peppermints, chocolate bars and cracker jacks in the children’s classic song, “On the Good Ship Lollipop” in the 1934 film “Bright Eyes”, according to the Boston Herald.
Temple performed a “stair dance” duet with Billy “Bojangles” Robinson in “The Little Colonel” in 1935. Robinson and Temple were the first black man and white girl to dance together in an American film. They would dance together in several more.
After marrying Charles Alden Black in 1950, she became a prominent Republican fund-raiser. She was appointed a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly by President Richard M. Nixon in 1969, according to the New York Times.
After winning an honorary Academy Award at the age of 6 and earning $3 million before puberty, Shirley Temple grew up to be a level-headed adult.
The Biggest little Hollywood Star will always be remembered with her 56 blond ringlets in her hair.