Hollywood, California on February 6, 2020. (Image credit: Getty Images)
[Looking at China March 28, 2023 News]On February 10, 2014,U.S.most famousChild star Shirley TemplePassed away peacefully at his home in California at the age of 85. This article tells her story.
In the 1930s, during the tenure of President Roosevelt, the American economy was in the Great Depression. Banks went bankrupt, factories closed, and people lost their jobs. Movies were the only thing in fashion. People live in hard times, and watching movies has become their spiritual sustenance.
In such a background, a lovely little angel came to the American world, she isXiulan. Temple. The American people call her a gift from God to people.
Xiulan.TempleBorn in April 1928. Her father was a bank employee in California, and her mother was Gertrude Amelia Temple. Shirley Temple already has two older brothers. When the mother was young, she wanted to be an actress, but she failed, so she pinned her hopes on cultivating her daughter.
When Shirley Temple was 3 years old, she looked very innocent and lively. She is very beautiful, with a round face, a pair of bright eyes, and a pair of small dimples on her face. Her mother specially curled her golden hair into many curls. She loves singing, dancing, and walking. Her mother, Gertrude, found that she was talented in art and had extraordinary sensitivity to music and art. Regardless of the family’s financial burden, she insisted on sending her to a well-known children’s dance school to learn dance. She learns dancing at school during the day, and her mother teaches her singing at home at night.
One day, a screenwriter of the Fox Film Company found a cute little girl bouncing up and down on the roadside steps, which caught his attention. This girl was what they were looking for, a young actor they needed in the movie. So she was chosen to audition. After being interviewed by the director and producer, she made her debut in the patriotic film “Stand Up and Cheers”. In this film, her performance was joyful, cheerful, cheerful, innocent, lovely, and understanding, and the audience liked it very much. So she became famous in one fell swoop and created a high box office value. Fox Films signed her mother to a seven-year contract. At that time, a working person in the United States only earned 10 cents a day, and a movie ticket was sold for 15 cents, but her salary was 20 dollars a day. In 1934, Fox specially tailored “Bright Eyes” for her, in which she played Shirley, and the cassette tape of “Lollipop Boat” she sang was bought by 500,000 fans. Even the then international stars Michael Jackson and Clara Gable became her fans. She was the first to win a gold Oscar in 1935child star. 24 years ago, the author once saw Temple’s signature on the Cotai Strip in Hollywood Studios City in Los Angeles, which was “SHIRLEY TEMPLE” written in English capital letters on March 14, 1935. President Roosevelt said back then that as long as there is Shirley Temple in our country, we will be fine and everything will be fine. At this time, Fox paid her up to $1,000 a week. In other words, when she was six years old, she became one of the highest paid movie actors in Hollywood. At the age of 7, she was called the queen of the movie, and at the age of 9 she reached the peak.
Behind her success, there are the strict discipline of her mother, her own hardships, and the special treatment given to her by the film company. She was still illiterate when she was young, but with her talent, she could remember the lines of the script when her mother read her. Complicated dance steps can be learned as long as she watches others demonstrate them several times. She was never stage frightened in acting. By the time she was 6 years old, 20 films had been completed. Child actors usually work 5 hours a day, and filming on weekends takes 7-8 hours, and they need to shoot 7-8 movies a year. Such a long working time is almost beyond the limit of a young child’s physical strength. She has to deal with complex interpersonal relationships, and she has to be punished when her performance fails to meet the director’s requirements. Therefore, the work of a child star is very hard. What is even more unexpected is that out of jealousy, some people even bullied her and hurt her. The film company hired bodyguards, hired teachers, organized a screenwriter team, and set up a special lounge for her. During her time as a child star, her mother also accompanied her, and Gertrude acted as her tutor, housekeeper, manager and protector. So being a good “tiger mother” is also very hard work.
But as she grew up, and the shadow of World War II has enveloped the United States, the film industry has also begun to slump. As a child star, after the age of 10, she was no longer favored by the boss of the film company. When she was 12 years old, Fox Film Company terminated her contract. When she left Fox, she took only a few of her clothes and a piano she liked.
Because when she was a child star, the roles she played were optimistic, strong, intelligent, and kind children. Some of these qualities were born with her, and some were shaped for her by the screenwriter. These gradually formed her outlook on life, her character traits. She is not depressed about being out of a job in the film industry. When she was 12 years old, her mother sent her to school for further study. During school, she did not reveal that she was special from others, she was just an ordinary student. At the age of 17, John Agar, a soldier who had been her brother’s classmate, wooed her, and they got married and had a daughter. The other party asked to act in a movie with her, but his acting skills were mediocre. She found that this person’s pursuit of her was not because he really loved her, but because he wanted to use her reputation to improve himself. When their movie was not favored by the audience, Ah Gal degenerates into an alcoholic. So she took the initiative to end the marriage. After the divorce, it was her mother who helped her out of financial difficulties again, and her mother found her a job as a TV presenter.
With the previous experience, she is more cautious about the choice of a spouse. When she was on vacation in Hawaii in 1955 and met Charles Blake courting her, she wrote a letter to Hoover, a friend she had known for a long time, who was the director of the FBI at the time, entrusting him to investigate Charles’ background. Hoover wrote back telling her that Charles was infallible, saying that “he is as clean as applesauce”. She married Charles on December 16 of that year. Temple later wrote in her memoirs that the happiest thing in her life was her fairy-tale marriage with Charles. She also said that the most satisfying role for her is being a wife and mother. After marriage, they had a son and a daughter.
Shirley Temple and Ronald Reagan met in the early years when they were filming the movie “Girls Hagen”. Reagan saw her outstanding affinity and strong social influence. Reagan once encouraged her to enter politics. Under Reagan’s influence, she ran for Congress as a Republican in 1967. Since then, he has started to serve the American people, and has once again become a man of the hour in American politics. She worked until 1991, when she retired from politics in order to fulfill her mother’s responsibilities.
She has served in key positions in five administrations. During the Reagan presidency, she worked for the U.S. State Department. When Nixon was president in 1969, she was appointed as the U.S. representative to the 24th General Assembly of the United Nations. When Ford was president in 1974, she was appointed U.S. ambassador to Ghana, and two years later she returned to serve as the State Department’s chief of protocol. When Bush Sr. was president in 1989, she was named ambassador to Czechoslovakia.
At the age of 44, she suffered from breast cancer. She was not afraid of the serious disease and continued to work after the surgery. At the age of 78, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild of America.
As a goodwill ambassador in April 1977, she visitedChina, to spread the American people’s friendship and love for the Chinese people. Gardening is one of her hobbies.
She is also a rich and virtuous person, and her life starts well and ends well. I think her life spreads positive energy to people.
(The article only represents the author’s personal position and point of view)
Responsible Editor: Li Yunfei Source: See China Column
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