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Moira Shearer

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Moira Shearer
File:Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes.jpg
Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes (1948)
Born
Moira Shearer King

(1926-01-17)17 January 1926
Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, UK
Died31 January 2006(2006-01-31) (aged 80)
Oxford, England, UK
Other namesLady Kennedy
Years active1938–1987
SpouseLudovic Kennedy (1950–2006; her death)
ChildrenAlastair, Ailsa, Rachel, and Fiona

Moira Shearer, Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006), was an internationally renowned British ballet dancer and actress.

Early life

She was born Moira Shearer King in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, the daughter of Harold Charles King. In 1931 her family moved to Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, where her father worked as a civil engineer and where she received her first dancing training under a former pupil of Enrico Cecchetti.[1] She 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.[1] At his studio she met Mona Inglesby[2] who gave Shearer a part in her new ballet Endymion, presented at an all star matinee at the Cambridge Theatre in 1938.[3] After three years with Legat, she joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet School. After the outbreak of World War II, her parents took her to live in Scotland.[1] She joined Mona Inglesby's International Ballet[4] for its 1941 provincial tour and West End season before moving on to Sadler's Wells in 1942.

Film career

Her first "claim to fame" is 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.

She came to international attention for her first film role as Victoria Page in the Powell & Pressburger ballet-themed film 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 at the 1954 Edinburgh Festival. She worked again for Powell on The Tales of Hoffmann and on the controversial film Peeping Tom (1960), which damaged Powell's own career.

In 1972, she was chosen by the BBC to present the Eurovision Song Contest when it was staged at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. According to author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History, Shearer accepted the role of hostess because her children wanted something to tease her with in the future.[5] She also wrote for The Daily Telegraph newspaper and gave talks on ballet worldwide.

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

Along with her continued work in film, in the mid-1960s, Shearer danced (and sang) the role of Morgan le Fay in the original London production of Camelot, directed and choreographed by her Red Shoes co-star, Sir Robert Helpmann.[citation needed]

Personal life

In 1950, Moira Shearer married journalist and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy. They were married in the Chapel Royal in London's Hampton Court Palace. The couple had a son, Alastair, and three daughters, Ailsa, Rachel, and Fiona. Shearer died at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, England at the age of 80.[6]

Filmography

Year Title Role
1948 The Red Shoes Victoria Page
1951 The Tales of Hoffmann Stella/Olympia
1953 The Story of Three Loves Paula Woodward
1955 The Man Who Loved Redheads Sylvia/Daphne/Olga/Colette
1960 Peeping Tom Vivian
1961 Black Tights Roxane
1987 A Simple Man (TV movie) Mother

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Fisher, Hugh (1952). "Moira Shearer" (2). Dancers of To-day. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Mona Inglesby with Kay Hunter (2008). "Ballet in the Blitz". Groundnut Publishing. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ Handley-Taylor, Geoffrey (1947). "Mona Inglesby, Ballerina and Choreographer". Vawser and Wiles. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "Mona Inglesby". London: The Independent. 13 October 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  5. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
  6. ^ Obituary in The New York Times, 2 February 2006
Preceded by
Republic of Ireland Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir
 Eurovision Song Contest presenter
1972 		Succeeded by

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