Shirley Temple’s career as a child star is the stuff of legend. She started acting when she was three, and shortly thereafter her mother enrolled her in dance lessons to capitalize on her daughter’s natural talent (per Biography). Her initial acting gigs eventually landed her a contract with the Fox Film Corporation. She participated in her first Hollywood film, “Carolina,” at the age of 6, and from there her career really began to take off.
Throughout the 1930s and ’40s, Temple took the film industry by storm, starring in around 45 feature films. Some of her most famous movies include “Heidi,” “The Little Princess,” and “The Little Colonel,” in which she made film history as part of the first interracial couple to dance together on the big screen, sharing the scene with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. She became a dominant force at the box office and won multiple awards. Temple’s talent was undeniable, and she managed to catch the eye of many important people, from the president of the United States to the pope.
