Moira Shearer, star of "The Red Shoes"

Moira Shearer, the flame-haired ballerina-turned-actress who became an international star in "The Red Shoes," a poetic and sensual film that inspired generations of young dancers, died Tuesday at a hospital in Oxford, England. Her husband, journalist and broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy, did not reveal the cause of death. She was 80.

Using Technicolor photography, "The Red Shoes" (1948) was one of the most stunning films of its vintage, and its entrancing, porcelain-skinned heroine was credited with almost single-handedly popularizing ballet for millions. However, in later years she disparaged the film and its cost to her ballet career.

She was born Moira King in Dunfermline, Scotland, on Jan. 17, 1926. Her father, a civil engineer, moved the family to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), where she was pushed into dance lessons by her mother.

After the family returned to Scotland, she received lessons from Nikolai Legat, the Russian master who had trained Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky. She became a principal at Sadler's Wells Ballet, and in 1946 she danced "Swan Lake" as Odette and Odile and "The Sleeping Beauty" as Princess Aurora.

Also that year, she was in Frederick Ashton's "Symphonic Variations," her red hair providing vibrant contrast when she appeared onstage with blonde Pamela May and brunette Margot Fonteyn.

In 1948, she replaced an ailing Fonteyn in "Cinderella."

Her critical reputation soared, not least because of "The Red Shoes," which she had rejected as "silly and banal" when shown the script.

Directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger based "The Red Shoes" on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a young girl entranced by magical ruby-red shoes. Their film was set in the ballet world, with the young ballerina Victoria Page forced to channel all her passion into her career.

It won Oscars for best art direction and best music.

The size three satin pointe shoes she wore in the film sold for $25,000 at auction in London in 2000.

But Scottish ballerina was displeased with her acting and dancing and uncomfortable being promoted as the greatest dancing find of her generation.

Soon after "The Red Shoes," she toured North America, and choreographer George Balanchine cast her in his "Ballet Imperial" (1950). She later wrote a book about Balanchine.

In 1954, she quit ballet but made sporadic film appearances.

She rounded out her career doing stage work in everything from Anton Chekhov to Noel Coward. She contributed book reviews to the London Daily Telegraph.

In 1950, she married Kennedy and became Lady Kennedy after her husband was knighted.

Survivors include her husband and four children.

Additional information from The Associated Press