14 Facts About Moira Shearer

Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy, was an internationally renowned Scottish ballet dancer and actress.

Moira Shearer was famous for her performances in Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffman and Michael Powell's Peeping Tom.

Moira Shearer has been portrayed on screen by Shannon Davidson in the award-winning short film Oran na h-Eala which explores her life-changing decision to appear in The Red Shoes.

Moira Shearer was born Moira Shearer King at Morton Lodge in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, in 1926, the only child of civil engineer Harold Charles King and Margaret Crawford Reid, nee Shearer.

Moira Shearer returned to Britain in 1936 and trained with Flora Fairbairn in London for a few months before she was accepted as a pupil by the Russian teacher Nicholas Legat.

Moira Shearer joined Mona Inglesby's International Ballet for its 1941 provincial tour and West End season before moving on to Sadler's Wells in 1942.

Moira Shearer first came to the public's attention as Posy Fossil in the advertisements for the Noel Streatfeild book Ballet Shoes while she was training under Flora Fairbairn, a good friend of Streatfeild's.

Moira Shearer achieved international success with her first film role as Victoria Page in the Powell and Pressburger ballet-themed film The Red Shoes,.

Moira Shearer retired from ballet in 1953, but she continued to act, appearing as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the 1954 Edinburgh Festival.

Moira Shearer worked again for Powell in the films The Tales of Hoffmann and Peeping Tom, which was controversial at the time of release and damaged Powell's own career.

Moira Shearer wrote for The Daily Telegraph newspaper and gave talks on ballet worldwide.

In 1950, Moira Shearer married journalist and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy.

Moira Shearer was given the honorary title of Lady Kennedy when her husband was knighted in 1994 for services to journalism.

Moira Shearer died at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, England at the age of 80.