Shirley Temple: Google honours the Hollywood star with a Doodle

The dancing doodle is visible across the Americas, Europe and India

Before becoming the US ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia, and also serving as Chief of Protocol of the US, Shirley Temple was one of the most recognisable child actors around the world. AP

Actor, singer, dancer and diplomat Shirley Temple is the subject of a dancing Google Doodle, which is visible across the Americas, Europe and India on Wednesday.

While this does not mark the Hollywood star's birthday (April 23, 1928) or death anniversary (February 10, 2014), on this day in 2015, the Santa Monica History Museum opened Love, Shirley Temple, a special exhibit featuring a collection of her rare memorabilia, according to Google.

Temple's family were involved in the Google project, and her granddaughter, Teresa Caltabiano, shared her thoughts on her grandmother's legacy for the occasion.

"If you've seen a Shirley Temple movie, you have in a sense gotten to know who she was as a person," she said. "The feisty heroines she played who loved their families and who wanted to make the world a better and happier place was a reflection of her genuine character."

Caltabiano describes her as "bright and highly intuitive", with a "lifelong fascination with people and the real world around her".

"At the heart of everything was her family. We were blessed to know her, her love, her courage and her strength. She is still deeply loved and truly missed, and we treasure our memories of her."

The life and career of Shirley Temple

Temple was born in Santa Monica, California, and bagged her first major role in 1934, in the musical Stand Up And Cheer!, even though she'd been honing her skills in classes and on smaller projects since the tender age of 3.

With her dimples and blonde ringlets, she went on to become one of the most beloved and recognised child stars of the 1930s, if not all time.

In 1934, Temple starred in 12 films, including Bright Eyes, in which she performed the famous On the Good Ship Lollipop routine.

The next year, she became the first child star to win an Academy Award, at age 6, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to screen entertainment in 1934.

In 1942, she made the switch to radio as the star of sitcom Junior Miss, then when she was 22 she retired from the movie industry.

She later became known for her public service and dedicated environmentalism, as she was appointed a representative of the US to the UN in 1969. She was also an ambassador to Ghana and Czech Republic, and became the first female chief of protocol to the US State Department, as well as an Honorary Foreign Service Officer in 1988.

In 2006, the Screen Actors Guild presented Temple with its Lifetime Achievement Award. She also, naturally, has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1950, she married businessman Charles Black, after which she was known as Shirley Temple Black.

In 1972, Temple was diagnosed with breast cancer, at 44, leading to a mastectomy, and became an advocate for the disease.

At the age of 85, Temple died at her Woodside, California home from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to her death certificate, as told in her biography by Chris Dicker.

Take a look through the photo gallery below to see some Google Doodles for the Middle East and North Africa: