Iconic Child Star Shirley Temple Dies at 85

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The beloved child star- turned US Ambassador died at 85 years old at her home in Woodside, CA Monday night.

 She was and still is an icon all around the world. My grandparents from Canada LOVED her!

Kids still know the drink named for her: a sweet, nonalcoholic cocktail of ginger ale and grenadine, topped with a maraschino cherry.

In a statement the family says:

“WE ANNOUNCE WITH GREAT SADNESS THAT AMBASSADOR SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK, FORMER HOLLYWOOD CHILD STAR AND FOREVER ‘AMERICA’S LITTLE DARLING’ PEACEFULLY PASSED AWAY AT HER WOODSIDE, CALIFORNIA HOME FROM NATURAL CAUSES, AT THE AGE OF 85, ON FEBRUARY 10, 2014 AT 10:57 PM PST. SHE WAS SURROUNDED BY HER FAMILY AND CAREGIVERS.

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 FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE LATE AND MUCH MISSED CHARLES ALDEN BLACK.”

PRIVATE FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS ARE PENDING. A REMEMBRANCE GUEST BOOK WILL BE OPENED SHORTLY ONLINE AT WWW.SHIRLEYTEMPLE.COM, AND CONTRIBUTIONS IN SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK’S MEMORY MAY BE MADE TO THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB OF CALIFORNIA’S 2^nd CENTURY CAMPAIGN OR TO THE EDUCATION CENTER AT THE ACADEMY MUSEUM OF MOTION PICTURES IN LOS ANGELES.

“WE ASK THAT OUR FAMILY BE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY AT THIS TIME OF LOSS TO GRIEVE PRIVATELY.”

SURVIVORS INCLUDE: CHILDREN SUSAN, CHARLIE JR., LORI; GRANDDAUGHTER TERESA AND GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTERS LILY AND EMMA."

  Born in Santa Monica, Calif., to an accountant and his wife, Temple was little more than 3 when she made her film debut in 1932 in the Baby Burlesks.

"Her movies -- which included "Bright Eyes" (1934), "Curly Top" (1935), "Dimples" (1936) and "Heidi" (1937) -- featured sentimental themes and musical subplots, with stories of resilience that a struggling American public strongly identified with," says the Associated Press.

  "She was a tribute to the economic and inspirational power of movies, credited with helping to save 20th Century Fox from bankruptcy and praised by President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself as a bright spirit during a gloomy time.President Roosevelt observed: 'As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right.' "

Screen Actors Guild

At only 6 years old she won a special mini-Oscar for "outstanding contribution to screen entertainment". She retired from acting at 21, then went on to hold several diplomatic posts in Republican administrations, including ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the sudden collapse of communism in 1989.

 In 1967, she made an unsuccessful bid as a GOP candidate for Congress. After Richard Nixon became president in, he appointed her as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. In the 1970s, she was U.S. ambassador to Ghana and later U.S. chief of protocol.

   "Temple married Army Air Corps Pvt. John Agar in 1945. They had a daughter, Susan, in 1948. The actress filed for divorce the following year. She married Charles Black in 1950, and they had two more children, Lori and Charles. That marriage lasted until his death in 2005 at age 86."

R.I.P. Miss Shirley! You'll be missed but your legacy will live on forever!