Shirley Temple Black, one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood history, marks her 80th birthday on Wednesday but plans a subdued day at home because of a recent accident.
“I broke my arm last week at my house, it hurts quite a bit,” she told Reuters on Tuesday.
With her bubbly, optimistic screen personality, Black lured millions to the movies in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Her best-known films include “Little Miss Marker,” ”Stand Up and Cheer” and “The Little Colonel.”
She ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress in 1967 and then became a diplomat, serving as ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Ghana. In recent years, Black has lived quietly in Woodside, Calif., an upscale town in Silicon Valley south of San Francisco.
“I’m spending my birthday quietly at home,” Black said, adding that her broken arm limited her ability to receive visitors.
“People should turn on the lights when they are walking around in the dark,” she joked.
Fox Home Entertainment, the video division of movie studio 20th Century Fox, is marking Black’s birthday on Wednesday by releasing the sixth and last volume of a retrospective series of her films.