Entertainment

12 Stars Who Walked Away From Hollywood at the Height of Their Fame

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Shirley Temple as a young woman

3. Shirley Temple

In the late 1930s, Shirley Temple was the No. 1 box-office star in America, ahead of every adult actor in Hollywood. As a teenager, though, the roles started to dry up.

She retired from films in 1950, at just 22, and found a second calling in public service. She served as U.S. ambassador to Ghana and later to Czechoslovakia. She died in 2014.

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