Shirley Temple’s childhood secrets revealed by oldest friend
Every year, little Shirley Temple’s birthday parties were held in the commissary of the 20th Century Fox studio, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Marilyn Granas, her childhood best friend and movie stand-in who died in 2025 at the age of 98, recalled sitting next to the birthday girl and singing along with the other children of studio employees. Congratulations to the star.
Flashbulbs would pop as Temple blew out the candles next to a pile of expertly wrapped gifts.
“But I understand Shirley never saw any of the presents,” Granas recalled. “They all went to charity.”
Giving away her birthday presents is just one example of how Temple — the beloved movie star with dimples and a smart, outgoing personality — missed out on an ordinary childhood.
Shirley became an artist at the age of three, and although her early years were filled with praise and encouragement, her life was carefully controlled and heavily orchestrated by her mother, Gertrude Temple.
Gertrude, who aspired to be a ballerina in her youth, “did everything a stage mother would do,” says John Kasson, author of The little girl who fought the Great Depression: Shirley Temple and the 1America in the 1930s. “She had no problem walking up to the president of 20th Century Fox, which produced the little star’s films.”
Gertrude was a fixture on set and helped build Shirley into the most famous child star of all time, thanks to films like Little Mrs. Marker And Clear eyes.
“She was her daughter’s acting coach, her hairdresser and her defender,” Kasson said.
However, Shirley was grateful for her mother’s dedication.
“She didn’t force me to do anything. I loved what I did,” the star once said.
After having two boys with her husband, George, a banker, Gertrude was overjoyed when Shirley arrived in 1928. “Mrs. Temple told my mother that she started training her when she was still in her crib,” Granas said. “Her mother would say, ‘Sparkle, Shirley,’ and she would shine.”
On set, Gertrude zealously guarded Shirley’s innocence and made sure no other child abandoned her. My mother was also strict about who she considered a good companion or playmate for her daughter.
Her deputy, Granas, was one of the few children on Gertrude’s “approved” list.
“I felt sorry for Shirley because her childhood was so unnatural,” Granas admitted, “but she didn’t do very well academically. When she was six, she really couldn’t write. Her mother always signed things on her behalf.”
As she grew up and moved away from the spotlight, boys became more exciting, and Shirley admitted, “I had marriage on my mind.”
When she met John Agar, the brother of a classmate, she felt her dream had come true.
They married when she was 17 and he was 24. But instead of moving, the newlyweds lived in a small bungalow converted from Shirley’s playhouse, on her parents’ property.
They divorced five years later, when Agar was an established actor. He accused Gertrude of interference, although Shirley insisted the split had more to do with his alcoholism.
“That first marriage was a disaster,” she said.
Shirley remained devoted to her parents. “They shaped my inner life, my entire life,” says Shirley, who went on to marry her second husband, naval officer Charles Black.
Shirley, who died in 2014 at the age of 85, raised three children and became a respected diplomat.
“If anyone were to ask me who I would choose if I could come back in another life, I would have to say Shirley Temple Black.”
