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Dancer who became a choreographer, actor and director for stage and screen

As a dancer, Wendy Toye, who has died aged 92, was a child prodigy. Born in Hackney, east London, the daughter of a bristle merchant, she had made her first public appearance at the Royal Albert Hall by the age of four. Aged nine, she choreographed a ballet at the London Palladium and also won the women's prize, dancing the Charleston, at a ball organised by the theatrical manager Cb Cochran and judged by Fred Astaire and Florenz Ziegfeld among others. The men's prize was won by Lew Grade.

She was always grateful for the advice she received from her tutors, including Ruby Ginner, Ninette de Valois and Anton Dolin, and regretted that when she reached the next stage of her career – choreography and direction – there were no teachers. She had to learn as she went along.

During the 1930s,...

British movie maker Wendy Toye has died at the age of 92.

She passed away at Hillingdon hospital in Middlesex, England on Saturday. No further details of her death were available as WENN went to press.

Toye began her career as a dancer and choreographer, appearing in stage productions both in her native U.K. and on Broadway, before she became involved in the film industry in the 1930s.

She directed her first short film, The Stranger Left No Card, in 1952 and the picture won the Best Fictional Short Film prize at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.

Toye went on to helm numerous films including The Teckman Mystery, Raising a Riot, and All For Mary, as well as testing out her acting skills onscreen with appearances including a role in 1945's I'll Be Your Sweetheart.

She won an Oscar nomination in 1955 for her Christmas-themed short On the Twelfth Day…

Toye was made a Commander of the British Empire (Cbe) in 1992 after she was previously awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee medal.