Alexis Smith

Her final film, The Age of Innocence (1993) was released shortly after her death. She received Kennedy Center Honors in 1998. She was married to the actor Craig Stevens from 1944 until her death in Los Angeles, California from brain cancer. She went on to hold several diplomatic posts, representing the United States in the United Nations in 1969-70 and serving as American ambassador to Ghana (1974) and Czechoslovakia (1989). In 1972 she won a Tony Award for "Best Actress in a Musical" for her role in Follies, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest appearance in the sitcom Cheers in 1990. She subsequently became involved in Republican Party politics under her married name, entering a Congressional race in 1967. In her later years she concentrated mainly on stage and television appearances. Temple married the California businessman Charles Black in 1950; she may have looked favorably on his admission while dating that he had never seen any of her films.

Carrolls, (1947) and The Young Philadelphians (1959). Later appearances on television did not prove as popular as her films. Some of her other films include Rhapsody In Blue (1945), Of Human Bondage (1946), The Two Mrs. Temple retired from film acting in her early twenties. Her earliest roles were uncredited bit parts and it took several years for her career to gain momentum, but her appearance in The Constant Nymph was well received and let to bigger parts. During the forties she appeared opposite some of the most popular male stars such as Errol Flynn in San Antonio (1945). The role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, played by Judy Garland, was originally intended for her. Born Gladys Smith in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, she was signed to a contract by Warner Brothers Studios when seen appearing in a play. By the late 1930s she was the biggest box-office attraction in motion pictures, and the success of her films may have saved more than one major studio from bankruptcy during the Great Depression.