Cleo Mayfield
American actress (1898–1954)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cleo Mayfield (born Cleo Empey; August 6, 1898 – November 8, 1954) was an American actress and singer.
August 6, 1898
Cleo Mayfield | |
|---|---|
Mayfield in 1922 | |
| Born | Cleo Empey August 6, 1898 Hutchinson, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | November 8, 1954 (aged 56) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Kensico Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | c.1912–1944 |
| Spouse | |
Biography
Mayfield was born Cleo Empey, the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence B. Empey in Hutchinson, Kansas.[1][2][3] As a child, she attended the North Side school in Hutchinson,[4] before moving with her family to Kansas City, Missouri at the age of twelve.[3]
Mayfield first met Cecil Lean in Chicago in 1912, during the production of The Military Girl at the Ziegfeld Theatre.[5] By 1913, she had assumed the stage name Cleo Mayfield.[6] For the remainder of Lean's career, the two would frequently appear together in theatrical productions.[7] In February 1914, Mayfield married Cecil Lean in a civil ceremony in Chicago.[8] Prior to their marriage, Mayfield and Lean had been in a romantic relationship for over two years that only a few of their closest friends knew about.[8][1] In July 1935, in the presence of Mayfield, Lean collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack in Manhattan.[7][a]
Over the course of her career, Mayfield made numerous appearances on Broadway stages and toured widely—as far afield as London—in a variety of musicals.[10] Her Broadway appearances include productions of: The Man with Three Wives, The Blue Paradise, Miss 1917, Look Who's Here, The Blushing Bride, and Innocent Eyes.[11] Her notable theatrical appearances away from Broadway include the touring production of No, No, Nanette that debuted in Detroit in January 1925.[12][13]
Mayfield made her final Broadway appearance in 1944, in a comedy play called Right Next to Broadway.[14] After a lengthy struggle with cancer, Mayfield died on November 8, 1954, at her residence in New York City at the Ansonia Hotel.[14][15]
Notes
- Contemporary newspaper accounts agree that Lean collapsed while walking outside a Manhattan theater; they variously identify that theater as either the Booth Theatre[9] or the Plymouth Theatre.[7]
