JANUARY 17 was Moira Shearer's 80th birthday - and fans worldwide who clearly cherished radiant, auburn-haired memories of her as both acclaimed ballerina and actress, peppered internet sites with heartfelt greetings.

Now, only days later, comes news of her death and with it the passing of an much-loved, inspirational icon who never chased stardom and chose to put marriage and family commitments before any high-profile career on stage or screen.

Not that she made any public song and dance out of that decision, either. For, in Moira Shearer, the qualities of lustrous beauty, bright intelligence and true talent were underpinned by an unassuming nature and a principled reluctance to claim attention just for "being Moira Shearer".

Even after the huge American success of The Red Shoes, the ground-breaking 1948 Powell-Pressburger film that was her memorable screen debut, Shearer had no burning desire to climb aboard the Hollywood gravy train. One magazine reporter, writing in 1952, vividly described her meeting with movie mogul Sam Goldwyn.

The famous producer reckoned "Shearer's the best thing Britain's ever sent us" and had made her an offer no-one imagined she would refuse: starring alongside Danny Kaye, as the beautiful ballerina he hopelessly adores, in Goldwyn's forthcoming biopic of Hans Christian Andersen.

Shearer, according to the article "propped her slender frame, sheathed in shotgreen velvet, against the edge of a desk. Her brilliantly blue eyes gleamed. Her tomato mass of hair flamed. She looked what she is - Britain's red-whiteand-blue gift to Technicolor."

It was, apparently, an occasion stuffed with prime Hollywood ballyhoo. "I couldn't have imagined so much fuss, " said Shearer to the eager scribe. "We don't do it in Britain. Not over ballet, anyway."

The fuss was in vain. Shearer, already married to the journalist and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy, was expecting her first baby and withdrew from the film.

In truth, she never seemed especially smitten with the film business. Her career intentions were rooted in the emerging British ballet scene where, by 1948, she was beginning to make her mark. There is a realm of irony in the fact that, having retired from dancing before reaching her peak, Moira Shearer's lasting fame rests on a film about ballet that she initially didn't want to make.

The undiminished popularity of The Red Shoes over more than half a century has made her one of the bestknown ballerinas in the world: known and loved by millions who never ever saw her dance on-stage.

Moira Shearer was born Moira King in Dunfermline, daughter of Harold V King, whose name appears frequently in film credits as a sound recordist during the 30's and 40's. She was educated at Dunfermline High School, Ndola in Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) and Bearsden Academy.

She was drawn to ballet and went on to train professionally at the Mayfair School and the Nicholas Legat Studio before joining Mona Inglesby's International Ballet when it first opened - her debut with them was at The Alhambra, Glasgow in May 1941.

That famously striking auburn hair certainly made her stand out - most ballerinas at the time were demurely darkhaired, with blue-black a dramatic option. But Shearer was possessed of genuine artistry and excellent technique, and it was that which in 1942 saw her, still only 16, welcomed into Sadler's Wells Ballet under the visionary, if unswervingly demanding directorship of Ninette de Valois.

Shearer quickly became a soloist and was increasingly cast in important roles. The year she turned 20 - 1946 - was something of a career breakthrough for her. She danced the leads in Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Coppelia for the first time and so caught the imagination of Frederick Ashton he created one of the roles in his masterpiece, Symphonic Variations, on her.

She had a special delicacy, but also an aura - a vivacity bordering on gusto - that onlookers found both dazzling and affecting. When, that same year, she very reluctantly agreed to appear in a film about ballet, no-one could have predicted the fame and publicity, and the career changes, it would bring.

More than once, in interviews at the time and since, Moira Shearer has spoken - succinctly, but without rancour - about her concerns that making The Red Shoes would damage her career as a ballerina. Millions worldwide, however, are awash with gratitude that she did take on the role of Vicky Page, the luminously lovely young ballerina in a lavish, highly charged retelling of Andersen's story about a girl who is compelled to dance until her feet are cut off . . . The exquisite Shearer, caught onscreen between true love and a career, didn't just draw audiences into tragictale of lost happiness, she made classical ballet accessible and attractive to countless numbers.

By the time she was 27 - the same age as many shining stars in ballet companies worldwide - Moira Shearer had given up her ballet career, citing a combination of ill-health, injury and other interests, her family especially, as the reason.

She went on to make a handful of other films, including the darkly significant Peeping Tom, while establishing herself as an actress - she played Titania in a 1954 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Edinburgh International Festival - but those who saw her dancing couldn't help musing on various "what if's . . ."

What if, after working so effectively with George Balanchine when he staged Ballet Imperial at Covent Garden, she had followed him to America, where audiences already knew and adored her? But by then, she had met and (in 1950) married her lifelong partner, Ludovic Kennedy. The ensuing years saw her presenting Eurovision contests, appearing in selected stage plays, lecturing on the history of ballet, serving as a member of the Scottish Arts Council and the BBC General Advisory Council (both in the 70's) and reviewing books for the Daily Telegraph.

There were brief forays back into dancing - with Northern Ballet Theatre in A Simple Man and (if memory serves) in a Scottish Ballet Gala performance of Darrell's Five Ruckert Songs. But nothing ever lured Moira Shearer away from her family or her role as Ludovic Kennedy's helpmeet. The couple had four children - Alastair, Ailsa, Rachel and Fiona - and seven grandchildren.

Moira Shearer; born January 17, 1926, died January 31, 2006