Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006) was a Scottish

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

and actress. She was famous for her performances in

Powell and Pressburger The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell (1905–1990) and Emeric Pressburger (1902–1988)—together often known as The Archers, the name of their production company—made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. T ...

's '' The Red Shoes'' (1948) and '' The Tales of Hoffman'' (1951), and

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company Powell and Pressburger, The Archers, they together wrote, produced ...

's ''

Peeping Tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...

'' (1960).

Early life

She was born Moira Shearer King at Morton Lodge in

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Scotland, in 1926, the only child of civil engineer Harold Charles King and Margaret Crawford Reid, née Shearer. In 1931 her family moved to

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia in terms of size and population, with a population of 627,503 (''2022 census''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development after Lusaka. It is the I ...

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...

, where her father worked as a civil engineer and where she received her first dancing training under a former pupil of Enrico Cecchetti, focussed on the Russian dance curriculum. The family returned to Scotland when she was 10. She was educated at Dunfermline High School and

Bearsden Academy Bearsden Academy is a non-denominational, state secondary school in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. History Bearsden Cross site (1911–1958) In 1911, the school was situated on the corner of Roman Road and Drymen Road north of Bea ...

. When she returned to Britain with her parents in 1936, her mother took her to the London studio of the Russian ballet master Nicholas Legat. The studio manager, assuming that Shearer was a beginner, referred them to Flora Fairbairn, a well-regarded teacher of young dancers starting out. Three months later, by chance, Legat saw Shearer dance in a private recital and reportedly remarked, "This is no beginner," and accepted her as a pupil.

Dance career

At Legat's studio she met the dancer and choreographer Mona Inglesby, who gave Shearer a part in her new ballet ''Endymion'', presented at an all star matinee at the Cambridge Theatre in 1938. After three years at the Legat studio, she joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet School at 14. After the outbreak of the Second World War, her parents took her to live in Scotland. She joined Mona Inglesby's International Ballet for its 1941 provincial tour and West End season before moving on to Sadler's Wells in 1942. Shearer's breakthrough role in her post-war dance career was her Sadler's Wells performance as Princess Aurora, the lead female role in '' The Sleeping Beauty'' on 1 March 1946.

Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE ( Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn (), was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with th ...

had danced Princess Aurora on the gala opening night, 20 February 1946; Pamela May took the role the following night, and Shearer assumed the role a week later. The reviewer in ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' praised her "extraordinary elegance and grace ... these are unteachable things, enchanting beyond technique." Other notable performances in this period include Shearer's role in Frederick Ashton's '' Symphonic Variations'', which debuted at Covent Garden in April 1946, with Fonteyn in the lead female role, and her interpretation of Swanhilda, the principal female role in '' Coppelia'' in October of that year, which one reviewer praised as "a performance memorable in her own career as well as in the annals of British ballet." During Shearer's career at Sadler's Wells, the prima ballerina of the company was Margot Fonteyn. Shearer, seven years younger than Fonteyn, was among a group of talented younger dancers, including Beryl Grey and Violetta Elvin, who entered the company after the Second World War. In her autobiography, Fonteyn recognised their talents, saying of Shearer, "Then came Moira Shearer, with her incredible airy lightness and ease, to be a real threat to my position. Moira was young, fresh, beautiful and different." For as long as she remained at Sadler's Wells, Shearer and Fonteyn were both colleagues and competitors.

Film career

Shearer first came to the public's attention as Posy Fossil in the advertisements for the

Noel Streatfeild Mary Noel Streatfeild OBE (24 December 1895 – 11 September 1986) was an English author, best known for children's books including the "Shoes" books, which were not a series (though some books made references to others). Random House, the U.S. ...

book '' Ballet Shoes'' while she was training under Flora Fairbairn, a good friend of Streatfeild. She achieved international success with her first film role as Victoria Page in the

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

-themed

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

'' The Red Shoes'', (1948). Even her hair matched the titular footwear, and the role and film were so powerful that although she went on to star in other films and worked as a dancer for many decades, she is primarily known for playing "Vicky". Shearer retired from ballet in 1953, but she continued to act, appearing as Titania in ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

'' at the 1954

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

. She worked again for Powell in the films ''

The Tales of Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in ...

'' (1951) and ''

'' (1960), which was controversial at the time of release and damaged Powell's own career. In 1972, she was chosen by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

to present the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

when it was staged at the

Usher Hall The Usher Hall (Scottish Gaelic: ''Talla Usher'') is a concert hall in the West End of Edinburgh, Scotland. The hall is owned and managed by the City of Edinburgh Council, and has hosted concerts and events since its construction in 1914. Th ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. She also wrote for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' newspaper and gave talks on ballet worldwide. The

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

Gillian Lynne Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne (née Pyrke; 20 February 1926 – 1 July 2018) was an English ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-runni ...

persuaded her to return to ballet in 1987 to play L. S. Lowry's mother in ''A Simple Man'' for the

Personal life

In 1950, Moira Shearer married journalist and broadcaster

Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy, (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author. As well as his wartime service in the Royal Navy, he is known for presenting many current affairs programmes and ...

. They were married in the Chapel Royal in London's

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

. She and Kennedy had a son, Alastair, and three daughters, Ailsa, Rachel, and Fiona. When her husband was knighted in 1994 for services to journalism, she could be addressed as Lady Kennedy. Shearer died at the

Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. Closed in 2007, after refurbishment the building was re-opened in October ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England, at the age of 80.

Legacy

She has been portrayed by Shannon Davidson in the short film ''Òran na h-Eala'' (2022) which explores her life-changing decision to appear in ''The Red Shoes''.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
The Ballerina Gallery – Moira Shearer

''Òran na h-Eala''
- UK Film Review
BBC Obituary of Moira Shearer

''The Times'' obituary of Moira Shearer
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shearer, Moira 1926 births 2006 deaths Dancers of The Royal Ballet People educated at Bearsden Academy People educated at Dunfermline High School Actors from Dunfermline British prima ballerinas Scottish ballerinas Scottish film actresses Scottish television presenters Scottish women television presenters Wives of knights Actresses from Fife