Publicist: America needed Shirley Temple

World renowned child star and former U.S. Ambassador Shirley Temple Black passed away at age 85 on Tuesday.

Max spoke to the Black family publicist Cheryl Kagan about her memories of Temple.

Kagan, who knew Black personally, said that she had lived a happy, full, and busy life.

"I think what you saw on the screen and on the air was the real Shirley Temple. She was a kind, charismatic, wonderful mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and had been married for 55 years to the late Charles Alden Black. She was an amazing actress, author, and ambassador, and I think her movies are timeless."

Kagan also says that America needed Temple Black at the time she rose to stardom as she was able to "take people's cares away."

Her transition to politics and diplomacy also wasn't as unexpected as it might seem. "She actually co-starred in a movie with Ronald Reagan... She was an amazing woman who could recreate herself and reinvent herself."

Black’s postings as a U.S. Ambassador included stints in Ghana and the former Czechoslovakia. But her experiences as a child star never left her. "She grew up in Hollywood, that was a part of who she was."

Text: Famed former child actress Shirley Temple dies

Text: Appreciation: Shirley Temple, the model child star