"I hate that song 'Mr. Bojangles.' It drives me up the wall, since it's not about him at all. He was ..." — Shirley Temple

My role models were Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt, and my major crush was J. Edgar Hoover.

Biographies of me have usually been compiled from old newspaper clips, untruthful publicity stories, and reminiscences of people who claim to have known me well.

Studio chief Winfield Sheehan wanted me to remain a little girl. If I lost my innocence, he said, it would show in my eyes.

The idea of being with my peers at a real school seemed much more exciting than making movies.