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This beauty with dazzling red hair was born in Dunfermline, Fife, in Southeastern Scotland. Moira Shearer's dance training started quite young, initially at the Mayfair School of Dancing, later at The Nicholas Legat Studio (Nicholas Legat was Nijinsky's teacher). Moira made her dance debut in Mona Inglesby's International Ballet in 1941 at the age of 15. The following year, Moira joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet in London, and soon became a soloist in the company (Sadler's Wells evolved to become the Royal Ballet). Moira was moving quickly.
Her "overnight success" year was 1946, when she danced the leads at Covent Garden in Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Coppelia. Moira created one of the important roles in Frederick Ashton's tour-de-force Symphonic Variations. The photo images taken during the production of Symphonic Variations, in which Moira shared the stage with Margot Fonteyn and Pamela May -- a redhead, a brunette, and a blonde -- are considered some of the best ballet photographs ever taken. At the age of 20, Moira had made a name for herself in the world of dance.
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She was also poised to make a name for herself in the movies. Michael Powell was ruminating over how to find a ballerina who could also act, for his and Emeric Pressburger’s planned production of The Red Shoes. The ballet world in Europe was in disarray with the war just over, so Powell considered looking at American dance companies. Perhaps there he might discover his ballerina star.
One day at Pinewood Studios, Powell ran into the beautifully handsome actor Stewart Granger (known then as Jimmy Granger), and mentioned his predicament. Quite the man about town, Granger knew all the pretty young things who had recently hit the scene. He told Powell there was a new ballerina at Sadler's Wells, and as Granger put it, "She's got it, whatever it is." And she sure did.
Powell went to a performance of Miracle in the Gorbals to look Moira over and to see her dance. He thought she was sensational. It took a month, but a meeting was arranged.
