In Pictures: Shirley Temple
- Published
Shirley Temple started her film career at three years old. Between 1934 and 1938 she appeared in more than 20 feature films and was consistently the top US movie star.
The youngster wore a grass skirt and played a ukulele to promote the musical Captain January, directed by David Butler, in 1936.
She attended her first big premiere for her film Wee Willie Winkie in Hollywood on 26 June, 1937.
As well as being the youngest ever recipient of an Oscar (at the age of 6 years and 310 days), Temple was also the youngest person to present one of the statuettes. She stood on a chair to give Claudette Colbert the best actress prize for It Happened One Night in 1935.
Shirley Temple on set in 1936 - a year in which she made four films. She was also famous for her songs, including Animal Crackers in My Soup, Curly Top, and On the Good Ship Lollipop.
At the age of 12 Temple's star burnt out - her parents bought out the remainder of her contract and sent her to an exclusive girl's school.
The actress was offered the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, but the head of Twentieth Century Fox declined the offer on her behalf. Film historians say the move may have cost the youngster her career.
Her final film, A Kiss For Corliss, is available to watch online for free. This is star's final ever moment on the big screen.
She married Army Air Corps sergeant John Agar in 1945, when she was 17 years old. Their first daughter, Linda Susan, was born in January 1948. Although the couple made a few films together, their relationship was troubled and they divorced in 1949.
The actress retired from Hollywood in 1950, but she still appeared occasionally on TV. In 1958 she wore a fairy godmother costume to promote her series of dramatised fairy tales, Shirley Temple's Storybook.
Under the name Shirley Temple Black, from her second marriage to Navy officer Charles Alden Black, the actress moved into politics and stood as a Republican candidate for Congress. She was defeated but continued to work for the party. On a visit to London in 1968 she spoke in front of a poster of Richard Nixon at a press conference at the Cafe Royal.
She appeared on Michael Parkinson's chat show in 1972, where she rubbished stories that her film sets had been constructed above scale to make her look smaller. She also discussed her political career and how she emerged from Hollywood unscathed.
In 2006, she accepted the Life Achievement Award at the 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.