NEW YORK -- She may be 60, but she is still Hollywood's greatest child star to hundreds of fans who waited Tuesday to catch a glimpse of Shirley Temple Black at a Fifth Avenue bookstore.
A line of about 350 Temple buffs snaked around the bookcases as Temple autographered her autobiography, 'Child Star,' recounting the years when the dimpled moppet sang and tap danced her way into the hearts of millions of Americans during the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
'She's a legend,' said Ed Kelly, 45, the manager of a law firm who took time from his lunch hour to meet Temple and get her to sign a copy of her book.
'For a child that age to be able to act, sing and dance, it is a phenomenon even today,' he said. 'There'll never be another child star like her.'
Shirley Temple, looking bright and cheerful in a red leather skirt and matching sweater, was unfazed by the crowd. Miss the Hollywood limelight? No, she said.
'My work is in international relations now. I had a nice time living in Ghana (where) 20,000 cheering Ghanaians made me a chief,' she said, referring to the two years in the mid-1970s when she was U.S. Ambassador to that west African nation.
She added, however, she wouldn't trade her child stardom for anything. She said she spent eight years writing her autobiography so she could set the record straight about her life.
Temple said a dozen biographies published about her were filled with errors, especially in the portrayal of her mother, to whom she dedicated her book.
'My mother was not a stage mother.' she said. 'She was a very shy homemaker. She put me in dancing school because I had so much energy. She appeared haughty and put people off a bit ... but I was just bathed in love.'
Temple reminisced about her Hollywood career and described Ronald Reagan, who starred with her in the 1947 film, 'That Hagen Girl,' as 'the best kisser.'
Asked if she thought Reagan made a better president than actor, Temple said she 'wasn't paying that much attention to Ronald Reagan' because she was pregnant with her first child during the filming of the picture.
'But he appeared to be less interested in acting than talking to the crew about union problems,' she said.
Temple's autobiography details a career that began in 1931 at the age of 3 when she appeared in a series of short films titled, 'Baby Burlesks.'
At 6, she was catapulted to stardom by the 1934 film 'Little Miss Marker,' and from 1935 to 1938, she was the number-one box office draw.
The book, published by McGraw Hill, chronicles the years Temple spent working with other Hollywood legends, including Carole Lombard, Ginger Rogers, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant and Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson.
Temple's story ends in 1954, following her retirement from films and marriage to her second husband, Charles Black.
But her fans never forget.
'She's the best thing in the world. Even when I talk about her now, I still have chills,' said Pina Arena, 58, who said she could never get enough of Temple's films when she was a little girl growing up in Naples, Italy.
Added Sofia Lederer, 60, 'There's only one Shirley Temple. I loved her.'
