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
Hutchinson, Kansas
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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