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"I Love Lucy" was in many ways TV's first solid-gold hit, and it wasn't just because the show premiered when there were few television programs on the air. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, then a real-life married couple, made magic together on screen as clever but ridiculous Lucy Ricardo and her straight man of a husband, Ricky. Their chemistry and comedy made the show an enduring, medium-changing hit, rocketing it to the top of the Nielsen charts and beaming it into the hearts and homes of millions of people worldwide.

The show came to a close in 1957, and while Ball and Arnaz would continue dominating television in other sitcoms and specials — not to mention their powerhouse production company Desilu — for years to come, no follow-ups ever held the same unique magic as the original series. Arnaz passed away in 1986, and Ball followed three years later. Today, only three actors who...

As President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “It is a splendid thing that for just fifteen cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles.”

Few Hollywood stars were ever as big — or little — as Shirley Temple. This dimpled darling with her bouncy corkscrew curls and delightful tap-dance routines brought cheer and spread sunshine to moviegoers during the darkest days of the Great Depression. She was the No. 1 box-office draw from 1935 to 1938 and was the first child star to be presented with a special Juvenile Academy Award for her big-screen contributions during 1934. She even had her own line of licensed merchandise including look-alike dolls, dishes and clothing. Before 1935 ended, her income from licensed goods would be more than $100,000 – doubling what she made from her movies.

A born charmer, Temple’s pint-sized characters regularly melted the hearts of the...

By the time Rumpelstiltskin was in the works, the slasher model of yesteryear was replaced with something fresh but still familiar enough. Hence the many oddball slashers where the antagonist is neither human nor ordinary. From djinns to scarecrows, the decade saw horror turning to more fantastical inspirations. Mark Jones, whose career began in writing for cartoons and television, essentially kicked off the trend with Leprechaun. And had his first movie not been so successful, his next would have likely never happened.

After striking gold with Leprechaun in the early 1990s, Mark Jones looked to another magical icon for his second horror movie. Two specific on-screen depictions of Rumpelstiltskin influenced Jones’ own unique reimagining; he drew from Shaike Ophir and Billy Barty’s performances, respectively from the vintage anthology show Shirley Temple’s Storybook and an ‘87 movie directed by David Irving. Jones remembered Ophir’s take on the Brothers Grimm character to be particularly creepy.

Tony Charmoli, a leading television and Broadway choreographer and director who won three Emmy Awards from the 1950s through 1970s and worked with stars from Mitzi Gaynor and Shirley MacLaine to the costumed characters of Sid & Marty Krofft’s Lidsville and, later, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce, died August 7 at his Hollywood Hills home. He was 99.

“My darling Tony, who passed away peacefully over the weekend, was a wonderful gift in my life, and in the lives of all who knew him,” Gaynor wrote in a tribute posted on Instagram. “He choreographed and directed all of my CBS TV specials, and virtually all of my stage shows and tours between 1973 and 2013. More than that, Tony was a warm and special presence in my life, and a good and true friend who knew my soul.”

Premiering as a Broadway dancer in 1947’s Dear Judas, Charmoli performed in two more productions – Make Mine Manhattan and Love Life,...

Former child actor Teddy Rooney has died. He was 66. Rooney's sister, Kelly, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that her brother died on Saturday in a convalescent home in Southern California after a long illness. Teddy was one of late actor Mickey Rooney's nine children. His mother was model and actress Martha Vickers, who was married to Mickey from 1949 - 1951 as his third of eight wives. Rooney acted alongside his mother on an episode of Playhouse 90 in 1957. In addition, he was featured in his father's film Andy Hardy Comes Home in 1958 and General Electric Theater in 1960. Among Rooney's most...

Whoopi Goldberg and Mia Farrow praise Temple, the former child star who left the entertainment industry for politics

Whoopi Goldberg and Mia Farrow were among the Hollywood stars who paid tribute to the former child star Shirley Temple, who has died aged 85.

On Tuesday Farrow said Temple, still held as one of the most famous child stars of all time, "raised the spirits of a nation during the Great Depression", while Goldberg identified her as "one of a kind".

George Clooney expressed appreciation for Temple's huge contribution to film history "from the very beginning". He added: "I'm sure it wasn't easy being a child star, although she went on to become an ambassador, so she reinvented herself along the way … it's a great loss."

Temple began her singular career aged three, finding early success with films including Curly Top, Heidi and Bright Eyes, which featured one of Temple's best known performances,...

Actor, who became one of the most famous child stars of all time, has died at the age of 85

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Whoopi Goldberg, James Franco and Mia Farrow have paid tribute to the actor, singer, dancer and politician Shirley Temple, who has died aged 85.

Farrow credited Temple, still held as the most famous child stars of all time, for "rais[ing] the spirits of a nation during the Great Depression", while Goldberg identified her as "one of a kind". Temple began her singular career aged three, finding early success with chirpy hits such as Curly Top, Heidi and Bright Eyes. That film featured one of Temple's best known performances, a rendition of Richard A Whiting and Sidney Clare's On the Good Ship Lollipop.

Temple left the film business in 1950. She returned for a brief stint in television,...

Beloved actress Shirley Temple passed away in her Woodside, California home last night at the age of 85. Although her cause of death was not disclosed, the actress' publicist, Cheryl Kagan, confirmed her death with the following statement.

"She was surrounded by family members and caregivers. We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife for fifty-five years of the late and much missed Charles Alden Black."

Born in Santa Monica, California in 1928, Shirley Temple made her film debut at just three years of age in a series of short films entitled Baby Burlesks, which featured child actors starring in parodies of feature films, including War Babies and Polly Tix in Washington. Her breakout role was in the 1934 feature Stand Up and Cheer!, where her singing, dancing and acting skills were first prominently put on display.

Shirley Temple dead at 85: Was one of the biggest domestic box office draws of the ’30s (photo: Shirley Temple in the late ’40s) Shirley Temple, one of the biggest box office draws of the 1930s in the United States, died Monday night, February 10, 2014, at her home in Woodside, near San Francisco. The cause of death wasn’t made public. Shirley Temple (born in Santa Monica on April 23, 1928) was 85. Shirley Temple became a star in 1934, following the release of Paramount’s Alexander Hall-directed comedy-tearjerker Little Miss Marker, in which Temple had the title role as a little girl who, left in the care of bookies, almost loses her childlike ways before coming around to regenerate Adolphe Menjou and his gang. That same year, Temple became a Fox contract player, and is credited with saving the studio — 20th Century Fox from 1935 on — from bankruptcy. Whether or not that’s true is a different story,...

Shirley Temple, star of classic Hollywood pictures The Little Princess and Heidi, has passed away at the age of 85.

A child star who made her film debut at the age of 5 in 1932's Red Haired Alibi, Temple appeared opposite some of film's greatest Golden Age stars such as John Wayne and Henry Fonda (in Fort Apache), Lionel Barrymore (The Little Colonel) and Cary Grant (The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer).

Temple won an honorary juvenile Academy Award for her contribution to film in 1934. She was awarded a star on the Walk of Fame in 1960, and in 2005 she was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Screen Actors Guild.

After stepping away from movies in 1949, Temple made a TV comeback in the late '50s with the series Shirley Temple's Storybook. Her final acting role was in a guest spot in 1963's The Red Skeleton Hour.

She later moved into politics, holding...

Shirley Temple, the dimpled, curly-haired child star who sang, danced, sobbed and grinned her way into the hearts of Depression-era moviegoers, has died, according to publicist Cheryl Kagan. She was 85. Temple, known in private life as Shirley Temple Black, died at her home near San Francisco. A talented and ultra-adorable entertainer, Shirley Temple was America's top box-office draw from 1935 to 1938, a record no other child star has come near. She beat out such grown-ups as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper and Joan Crawford. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranking of the top 50 screen legends ranked Temple at No.

Martha Mendoza, Associated Press

San Francisco (AP) - Shirley Temple, the dimpled, curly-haired child star who sang, danced, sobbed and grinned her way into the hearts of Depression-era moviegoers, has died. She was 85.

Temple, known in private life as Shirley Temple Black, died Monday night at her home near San Francisco. She was surrounded by family members and caregivers, publicist Cheryl Kagan said.

"We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife for fifty-five years of the late and much missed Charles Alden Black," a family statement said. The family would not disclose Temple's cause of death.

A talented and ultra-adorable entertainer, Shirley Temple was America's top box-office draw from 1935 to 1938, a record no other child star has come near. She beat out such grown-ups as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor,...