Moira Shearer

Biography

Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy(17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006) was a Scottish ballet dancer and actress. She was famous for her performances in Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes (1948) and The Tales of Hoffman (1951), and Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960). 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.