Being a guest star on The Simpsons is almost required on your resume to be included as one of the all time stars in Hollywood. Apparently, not so for the recently deceased screen legend Shirley Temple. She didn’t like how a loosely based child star character named “Vicki Valentine” was portrayed when she was finally grown up. How did she respond? Via Mandatory:
When you think of sweet little Shirley Temple, I’m sure the last thing you would expect to come out of her mouth would be “F*ck off. Sadly, that was her response to “The Simpsons” producers after being offered the role of Vicki Valentine, a character loosely based on her own life as a child star all grown up. Apparently she didn’t like how the character was portrayed, prompting the nasty response.”
I don’t picture her saying that as an adult, only as a child. The Simpsons won’t intentionally go out of their way to invite someone, especially Temple, to embarrass them. They do a pretty good job of letting the guests have fun with their roles. The Simpsons producers went ahead and made the season 11 episode anyway.
The show went on without Temple, with Tress MacNeille voicing the role instead.
Temple isn’t the first guest that turned down a chance to be on the show. All of the former living American presidents have said no, Jim Carrey turned down a role, Quentin Tarantino, and even Bob Dylan turned guest appearances down. Dylan was replaced with Johnny Cash and his role became a classic as Homer’s Spirit Coyote in the ninth episode of Season 8 entitled, “El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer).”
I could be creating a conspiracy theory here, but maybe Shirley Temple was just a little sore after watching this clip from The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horrors III from the 4th season? All signs point to eating Guatemalan insanity peppers and wandering around the desert.
