Director
Patricia Foy

Until 1989, Margot Fonteyn steadfastly refused to take part in any biographical television programme. Then, at long last, producer Patricia Foy persuaded the famous and much-loved ballerina to tell the full story of her life. This exclusive portrait, made two years before her death, is the only personal account of her life and career that exists on film.

Fonteyn was filmed at home in Panama, where she looked back on her past from her first dancing lesson when she was four years old, through the career which took her to the peak of public performance and world acclaim. The programme is presented by Fonteyn herself and she recalls events both professional and personal which made up the pattern of her life.

In a career spanning more than four decades she attained perfection in this most demanding of the arts, thrilling the public in both hemispheres. She had the supreme distinction of the title Ballerina Assoluta bestowed upon her and was made a Dame of the British Empire. Her life was full of romance and adventure and it seemed incredible that this dignified ballerina should at one time have found herself at the centre of political intrigue and revolution.

Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton, Robert Helpmann and Rudolf Nureyev, the four most significant figures in her career contribute to the programme. Their memories give substance to a truly amazing life.

There is archive film of Margot dancing many of her great roles and extensive newsreel coverage of the important events in her life.