(April 23, 1928—February 10, 2014) BACKSTORY: In January 1950, Temple had met Charles Alden Black, a WWII U.S. Navy intelligence officer who was awarded the Silver Star and Assistant to the President of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. Temple and Black were married in his parents' Del Monte, California home on December 16, 1950; at the same time, Shirley announced her official retirement from film.
The family relocated to Washington, D.C. when Black was recalled to the Navy. Temple gave birth to their son, Charles Alden Black, Jr., in Washington, D.C. on April 28, 1952. Following the war's end and Black's discharge from the Navy, the family returned to California in May 1953. Black managed television station KABC-TV in Los Angeles, and Temple became a homemaker. Their daughter Lori was born on April 9, 1954. In September 1954, Black became director of business operations for the Stanford Research Institute and the family moved to Atherton, California. The couple remained married for 54 years until his death on August 4, 2005.
From January-December 1958 Temple hosted and narrated a successful NBC television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations called "Shirley Temple's Storybook." The series was popular but lacked the special effects necessary for fairy tale dramatizations, sets were amateurish, and episodes were telecast in an irregular time-slot, making it difficult to generate a following. The show was reworked and released in color in September 1960 in a regular time-slot as "The Shirley Temple Show." It faced stiff competition from “Maverick”, “Lassie”, and the Walt Disney anthology and was canceled at season's end in September 1961. Temple continued to act, including filming a sitcom pilot called “Go Fight City Hall” that was never released.
In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives in a special election to fill a vacant seat. She ran as a conservative and lost to liberal Republican Pete McCloskey, a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War. She was appointed Representative to the 24th United Nations General Assembly by President Richard M. Nixon (Sept. – Dec. 1969), and U.S. Ambassador to Ghana (Dec. 6, 1974 – July 13, 1976) by President Gerald R. Ford. She was appointed first female Chief of Protocol of the U.S. (July 1, 1976 – Jan. 21, 1977), and was in charge of arrangements for President Jimmy Carter's inauguration and inaugural ball. She served as the U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (August 23, 1989 – July 12, 1992), having been appointed by President George H. W. Bush.
Shirley Temple Black died of natural causes on February 10, 2014, at the age of 85. She was at her home in Woodside, California, surrounded by family and caregivers. She is survived by her three children, as well as grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
