Cleo Mayfield | |
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![]() Mayfield in 1922 | |
Born | Cleo Empey August 6, 1898 Hutchinson, Kansas, U.S. |
Died | November 8, 1954 New York City, U.S. | (aged 56)
Resting place | Kensico Cemetery |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | c.1912–1944 |
Spouse |
Cleo Empey (born Cleo Mayfield; August 6, 1898 – November 8, 1954) was an American actress and singer.
Mayfield was born on August 6, 1898,[1][better source needed] 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 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][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.[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]