Fox Chairman Comments on Shirley Temple’s Passing
Shirley Temple. ©Pacific Rim Photo Press.

Shirley Temple. ©Pacific Rim Photo Press.

By ANGELA DAWSON
Front Row Features

HOLLYWOOD—Following news of the death of actress and former ambassador Shirley Temple Black, Fox Filmed Entertainment’s chairman and chief executive Jim Gianopulos issued the following statement: “Today, as the world mourns the loss of ‘America’s Little Darling,’ we remember not only one of the most prolific child stars to ever grace our screens, but also a woman whose achievements reached far beyond her Hollywood career.”

He went on to say, “Shirley Temple Black remains an integral part of Twentieth Century Fox’s heritage and the bronze sculpture of her that flanks the Shirley Temple Black Child Development Center on the Fox Lot (in Los Angeles) serves as reminder of her enduring legacy and her ability to unite and entertain both young and old. She was an extraordinary talent and on behalf of all of us at Fox, I wish to extend our deepest sympathies to her family.”

Temple Black, who received a special Oscar statuette in 1935, and served as an ambassador to Ghana and then Czechoslovokia, died Monday, February 10 in Northern California of natural causes. She was 85.