Celebrate Margot Fonteyn’s 100th Birthday With 50 Rarely-Seen Photos From Our Archives
May 18, 2019
On May 18, 1919, Margot “Peggy” Hookham was born. She would grow up to become Dame Margot Fonteyn, England’s homegrown prima ballerina. She joined the Sadler’s Wells School in 1934 and was performing principal roles with the precursor to The Royal Ballet the next year. Fonteyn was a company-defining figure, dancing Aurora for the re-opening of the Royal Opera House after World War II, creating numerous roles with Sir Frederick Ashton and forging a legendary partnership with Rudolf Nureyev.
In the August 1948 issue of Dance Magazine, Arnold Haskell wrote of her, “Although Margot Fonteyn is an exceptionally hard and conscientious worker, she is fundamentally a lazy person. Her dream is to retire at thirty-five and to live in some warm climate, getting up late, going to bed late, swimming and enjoying the good things of the table. She has not the slightest desire of ever producing a ballet, and the very idea of teaching appalls her.” Fonteyn continued to perform until she was 60 years old.
Below are our 50 favorite photos of the legendary ballerina from our archives.
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn and members of The Royal Ballet out swimming, circa 1957
Courtesy DM Archives. Michael Somes and Fonteyn in Sir Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering (1956)
Baracz, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn signing autographs for ballet students in Warsaw, Poland, May 1959
Courtesy DM Archives
Louis Peres, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn dancing the Rose Adagio in The Sleeping Beauty
Canadian Pacific Railway, Courtesy DM Archives. Moira Shearer and Fonteyn
Louis Peres, Courtesy DM Archives. Desmond Kelly and Fonteyn in La Sylphide
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn meeting Val Eley, Ruth Brisbane and Peggy Alston of the musical One Mo’ Time (1979)
Ellen Blume, Courtesy DM Archives. Michael Somes, Fonteyn and Georgina Parkinson in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, circa 1968
Herb Migdoll, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn, visiting The Joffrey Ballet, being greeted by Francesca Corkle, who grew up to dance with the company and now teaches at the Joffrey Ballet School
Beverley Gallegos, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in Le Corsaire, Nov. 1975
Duke Downey, Courtesy DM Archives. Rudolf Nureyev and Fonteyn at a party following their guest engagement with San Francisco Ballet, Jan. 1964
Houston Rogers, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn in Ondine (1958)
Louis Peres, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn accepts flowers after a performance of Romeo and Juliet
Louis Peres, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn as Cinderella in a guest appearance with the now defunct National Ballet in Washington, D.C.
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn, circa 1962
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev perform the Black Swan pas de deux, Oct. 1965
V. Sladow, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, 1968
Louis Peres, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn guesting with Boston Ballet for Les Sylphides, 1970
J. L. Vartoogian, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn signing copies of her autobiography, May 1976
Louis Peres, Courtesy DM Archives. Desmond Kelly and Fonteyn in Cinderella
Serge Lido, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn with her husband, Dr. Roberto “Tito” Arias
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn as Cinderella in a guest appearance with the now defunct National Ballet in Washington, D.C.
J. L. Vartoogian, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn receiving the Handel Medallion, given by New York City for contributions to the city’s intellectual and cultural life, from Mayor Abraham Beame, 1976
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn in Sir Frederick Ashton’s Ondine (1958)
V. Sladow, Courtesy DM Archives. Rudolf Nureyev and Fonteyn in formal dress, 1969
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, circa 1966
Courtesy DM Archives
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn in Michel Fokine’s The Firebird, which entered The Royal Ballet’s repertoire in 1954. Fonteyn was coached by Tamara Karsavina, Fokine’s original Firebird, in the role
Courtesy DM Archives. Still of Fonteyn from the 1972 film I Am a Dancer
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn in Sir Frederick Ashton’s Ondine (1958)
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn and dancers of San Francisco Ballet during a rehearsal break
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn as The Ballerina in Petrouchka, circa 1957
Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn as Odette
Courtesy DM Archives. Rudolf Nureyev and Fonteyn in Sir Frederick Ashton’s Margeurite and Armand (1963)
Paul Wilson, Courtesy DM Archives. Dame Ninette de Valois congratulates Fonteyn after a gala performance
Fonteyn as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, 1951
Oliana, Courtesy DM Archives. Sir Ashley Clarke, Fonteyn, Dudley Simpson and Lady Clarke arrive in Italy, 1962
Ron Galella, Courtesy DM Archives. Le Corsaire curtain call with Rudolf Nureyev
United Press International Photo, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn with Major General Sir Guy Salisbury Jones and her husband, Dr. Roberto “Tito” Arias, before heading to Buckingham Palace, where Arias was to present his diplomatic credentials to Queen Elizabeth II, Dec. 1960
Myra Armstrong, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn, Keith Rosson and Rudolf Nureyev in Pelléas et Mélisande
Paul Wilson, Courtesy DM Archives. Dame Adeline Genee, Phyllis Bedells and Fonteyn
Peyer, Courtesy DM Archives. Fonteyn with Rudolf Nureyev in Giselle
Pete Peters, Courtesy DM Archives. Lew Christensen and Fonteyn at San Francisco Ballet
Peter Friedrich, Courtesy DM Archives. Rudolf Nureyev and Fonteyn take a bow after Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet (1965). Impresario Sol Hurok infamously insisted the star couple dance the opening night of the ballet (despite it being created on Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable) to ensure the success of The Royal Ballet’s upcoming U.S. tour.
