Shirley Temple passed away yesterday. I watched most all of her movies when I was a kid. Watching her was the first time I ever sat up and went, "I want to act!" I, obviously, did not become an actress but it was the start of me thinking how I wanted to entertain people for a living, to make them smile the way Shirley Temple did. I still have my VHS of The Little Princess. I loved the movie version of Heidi and The Little Colonel and the one she did at 19 with Cary Grant (who I was madly in love with at the age of 10), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer. (At 10, I was insistent that everyone's objection to the age difference in that movie was 'stupid'. Of course, I was ten and I wanted to marry Cary Grant, so...) I was so taken with all of her movies when I was a kid, that I continued to follow what she was doing with herself for years after that. Watching her work for the U.N. and as a US ambassador was my beginnings of thinking about the world outside of my own little town. She did so much for the world, for the 85 years of her life, practically non-stop, and I wish her a good rest now.
Also, I made a thing to go up on Tumblr, so I thought I'd share it here as well.
'When I was 14, I was the oldest I ever was. I've been getting younger ever since.' - Shirley Temple Black
Sleep well, sweet lady.
