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

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, before developing a career in international politics. She was US representative to the UN General Assembly during late 1969 and went on to hold two US ambassador positions - as ambassador to Ghana from 1974-77 (under Gerald Ford) and to the then Czechoslovakia under George HW Bush from 1989-92.

Reading on mobile? Shirley Temple sings On The Good Ship Lollipop

As a child Temple's popularity rocketed during the 1930s when she became a iconic figure of America's economic woes. Her roles as a cherubic tomboy, topped by dimples and ringlets, but with a mean line in tap-dancing, were hugely popular with audiences and the young actor was credited with saving the depression-hit Fox studios. In 1936 the then seven-year-old was earning up to $50,000 ($800,000 today), while a Beverly Hills barman reportedly developed the popular non-alcoholic cocktail that shared her name.

Her popularity waned as in the late 40s as Temple headed towards adolescence. When she left the film business she had appeared in 44 features. She returned briefly to show business in the late 50s with a childrens' television series, Shirley Temple's Storybook and The Shirley Temple Show, a short-running variety show that was cancelled in 1961.

Shirley Temple in 2006 Photograph: Kazen/REX

She became active in politics in the late 60s, taking the name Shirley Temple Black, after marrying US Navy veteran Charles Alden Black. She sided with the Republican party in an unsuccessful bid to join the Californian congress in 1967, but was beaten by Pete McCloskey, a fellow Republican who was an opponent of the Vietnam war, which Temple supported.

In 1972 she held a press conference in the hospital room where she'd recently before had a cancerous left breast removed. Her forthright approach to this mastectomy, and her call urging women who discovered lumps not to "sit home and be afraid" was credited with great improving communication and awareness about the disease.

Temple was married twice - to John Agar in 1945 (when she was 17) and to Black in 1950. Temple and Agar had a daughter, Linda, before their divorce in 1949. She married Black the next year. They were married for 54 years until Black's death in 2005. They had a son in 1952 and a daughter, Lori, in 1954, who grew up to be the one-time bass player with the American punk band The Melvins.

More on Shirley Temple

• Philip French on Shirley Temple

• Happy 80th birthday, Shirley Temple

• Shirley Temple obituary

• This article was amended on Tuesday 11 February 2014. The reference to Mark E Smith of The Fall tweeting about the death of Shirley Temple Black has been removed. The tweet was from a fake account.