Cleo Mayfield

Cleo Empey (August 6, 1898 – November 8, 1954), better known by the stage name Cleo Mayfield, was an American actress and singer.

Cleo Mayfield
Mayfield in 1922
Born
Cleo Empey

(1898-08-06)August 6, 1898
DiedNovember 8, 1954(1954-11-08) (aged 56)
Ansonia Hotel; New York City
Resting placeKensico Cemetery; Valhalla, New York
OccupationActress
Years activec.1912–1944
Spouse(s)
(m. 1914)

Biography

Mayfield was born on August 6, 1898,[1] as Cleo Empey, the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence B. Empey in Hutchinson, Kansas.[2][3][4] As a child, she attended the North Side school in Hutchinson,[5] before moving with her family to Kansas City, Missouri at the age of twelve.[4]

Mayfield with husband Cecil Lean in 1924

Mayfield first met Cecil Lean in Chicago in 1912, during the production of The Military Girl at the Ziegfeld Theatre.[6] By 1913, she had assumed the stage name Cleo Mayfield.[7] For the remainder of Lean's career, the two would frequently appear together in theatrical productions.[8] In February 1914, Mayfield married Cecil Lean in a civil ceremony in Chicago.[9] 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.[9][2] In July 1935, in the presence of Mayfield, Lean collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack in Manhattan.[8][lower-alpha 1]

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.[11] 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.[12] Her notable theatrical appearances away from Broadway include the touring production of No, No, Nanette that debuted in Detroit in January 1925.[13][14]

Mayfield made her final Broadway appearance in 1944, in a comedy play called Right Next to Broadway.[15] After a lengthy struggle with cancer, Mayfield died on November 8, 1954, at her residence in New York City at the Ansonia Hotel.[15][16]

Notes

  1. Contemporary newspaper accounts agree that Lean collapsed while walking outside a Manhattan theater; they variously identify that theater as either the Booth Theatre[10] or the Plymouth Theatre.[8]

References

  1. "Cleo Mayfield". Find a Grave. July 3, 2005. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  2. "Cleo Empey Married". The Hutchinson News. XXVII (309) (Last ed.). February 23, 1914. p. 11. Retrieved July 23, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  3. "[No title listed.]". The Hutchinson Gazette. XII (198). February 8, 1914. p. 4. Retrieved October 17, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Work of Hutchinson Girl is Making a Success of Vaudeville with Cecil Lean". The Hutchinson News. XXVII (102). June 23, 1913. p. 2. Retrieved October 17, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  5. "The City Schools". The Hutchinson News. XI (147). February 10, 1896. p. 6. Retrieved October 17, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Cecil Lean Dies on Street in N.Y." The Philadelphia Inquirer. CCXIII (19) (Late City ed.). New York. July 18, 1935. p. 2. Retrieved October 18, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Cleo Mayfield, Hutchinson Girl, Makes Good On Stage". The Hutchinson News. XXVII (269) (Early Mail ed.). January 7, 1914. p. 12. Retrieved October 17, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Cecil Lean Dies Near N.Y. Theatre". Evening Courier. LII (41) (Final ed.). July 19, 1935. p. 3. Retrieved October 18, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Hutchinson Star Weds". Wichita Daily Eagle. LVII (82). February 25, 1914. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Cecil Lean, 57, Musical Comedy Star, Succumbs". Chicago Tribune. XCIV (172) (Final ed.). July 18, 1935. p. 18. Retrieved October 18, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Cleo Mayfield Dies, Star of 20s". The Philadelphia Inquirer. CCLI (133) (Final City ed.). November 10, 1954. p. 25. Retrieved October 18, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Cleo Mayfield". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  13. Green, Stanley (2011). Broadway Musicals: Show by Show (7th ed.). Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 81. ISBN 9781557837844. Retrieved October 22, 2018. By the time No, No Nanette arrived in New York, a second road company had been touring since January 1925 (with Cleo Mayfield, Cecil Lean, Donald Brian, and Ona Munson), and a London facsimile had been running for six months.
  14. "Theater". Chicago Tribune. LXXXIV (3) (Final ed.). January 3, 1925. p. 13. Retrieved October 22, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Cleo Mayfield, 57, actress, Dies in N.Y." The Central New Jersey Home News (Late City ed.). Associated Press. November 9, 1954. p. 21. Retrieved October 18, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Cleo Mayfield". Daily News. XXXVI (117) (Final ed.). November 9, 1954. p. 403. Retrieved October 18, 2018 via Newspapers.com.
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