page_title: Margot Fonteyn
section_title: Death and legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Margot Fonteyn / Death and legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue to Margot Fonteyn, Reigate by sculptor Nathan David, FRBS. Margot Fonteyn was born Margaret Hookham on 18th May 1919 in Reigate, Surrey, to an English father and a half-Irish half-Brazilian mother. This statue to her is outside Watson House in London Road on the way from the town centre to the station. The piece was made by British sculptor Nathan David, FRBS and unveiled by Dame Margot in 1980.
context_page_description: Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE, known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet, eventually being appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the company by Queen Elizabeth II. Beginning ballet lessons at the age of four, she studied in England and China, where her father was transferred for his work. Her training in Shanghai was with George Goncharov, contributing to her continuing interest in Russian ballet. Returning to London at the age of 14, she was invited to join the Vic-Wells Ballet School by Ninette de Valois. She succeeded Alicia Markova as prima ballerina of the company in 1935. The Vic-Wells choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton, wrote numerous parts for Fonteyn and her partner, Robert Helpmann, with whom she danced from the 1930s to the 1940s.
  In 1946, the company, now renamed the Sadler's Wells Ballet, moved into the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden where Fonteyn's most frequent partner throughout the next decade was Michael Somes.
context_section_description: Shortly before her death, Fonteyn converted to Roman Catholicism so that she could have her ashes buried in the same tomb as Arias. As her health worsened, she received a regular flood of messages and flowers from well-wishers, including Queen Elizabeth II and the President of Panama. Fonteyn died on 21 February 1991 in a hospital in Panama City, aged 71, on the 29th anniversary of her premiere with Nureyev in Giselle. She was buried with Arias near their home in Panama and a memorial service was held in London on 2 July 1991 at Westminster Abbey. A grief-stricken Nureyev, who was dealing with his own health issues in the form of AIDS, was unable to attend either service.
  In her hometown of Reigate, a statue created by British sculptor Nathan David, FRBS, in 1980, stands in tribute to Fonteyn. Depicting her in her favourite role of "Ondine", the statue was commissioned by fans worldwide. The main hall in Dunelm House, the Student Union building at the University of Durham, is named the Fonteyn Ballroom in her honour, as is the foyer to the Great Hall of University College, Durham in Durham Castle. In 2005, Margot's Closet, a dancing apparel and accessory shop, named in homage to Fonteyn, opened in Marietta, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb. The Margot Fonteyn Academy of Ballet established in Peekskill, New York in 2007 is named in her honour.
  In the early 1990s, the fossil plant Williamsonia margotiana was named after Fonteyn. She was one of five "Women of Achievement" selected for a set of British stamps issued in August 1996. In the 1998 film Hilary and Jackie about British cellist Jacqueline du Pre, Fonteyn is portrayed in a cameo appearance by Nyree Dawn Porter. In 2005 Tony Palmer made a documentary for ITV about Fonteyn, titled simply Margot.  It includes interviews with several colleagues from the dance world, Nureyev's personal assistant, and Fonteyn's sister-in-law, Phoebe Fonteyn. The BBC made a film about Fonteyn, broadcast on 30 November 2009, based on Daneman's biography and starring Anne-Marie Duff as the ballerina. In 2016, the English Heritage Trust installed a blue plaque on the building where Fonteyn lived when she was performing with the Sadler's Wells Ballet.  To mark the 100th anniversary of her birth, The Theatre and Film Guild installed a commemorative blue plaque to Fonteyn at her childhood home at 3 Elm Grove Road, Ealing.
caption: Nathan David's bronze statue of Fonteyn in Reigate, Surrey
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