Cleo Mayfield
Mayfield in 1922
Born
Cleo Empey

(1898-08-06)August 6, 1898
Hutchinson, Kansas, U.S.
DiedNovember 8, 1954(1954-11-08) (aged 56)
New York City, U.S.
Resting placeKensico Cemetery
OccupationActress
Years activec.1912–1944
Spouse
​
(m. 1914)​

Cleo Empey (born Cleo Mayfield; August 6, 1898 – November 8, 1954) was an American actress and singer.

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. 1 2 "Cleo Empey Married". The Hutchinson News. Vol. XXVII, no. 309 (Last ed.). February 23, 1914. p. 11. Retrieved July 23, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "[No title listed.]". The Hutchinson Gazette. Vol. XII, no. 198. February 8, 1914. p. 4. Retrieved October 17, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 "Work of Hutchinson Girl is Making a Success of Vaudeville with Cecil Lean". The Hutchinson News. Vol. XXVII, no. 102. June 23, 1913. p. 2. Retrieved October 17, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "The City Schools". The Hutchinson News. Vol. XI, no. 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. Vol. CCXIII, no. 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. Vol. XXVII, no. 269 (Early Mail ed.). January 7, 1914. p. 12. Retrieved October 17, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 3 "Cecil Lean Dies Near N.Y. Theatre". Evening Courier. Vol. LII, no. 41 (Final ed.). July 19, 1935. p. 3. Retrieved October 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 "Hutchinson Star Weds". Wichita Daily Eagle. Vol. LVII, no. 82. February 25, 1914. p. 1. Retrieved July 23, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Cecil Lean, 57, Musical Comedy Star, Succumbs". Chicago Tribune. Vol. XCIV, no. 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. Vol. CCLI, no. 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. Vol. LXXXIV, no. 3 (Final ed.). January 3, 1925. p. 13. Retrieved October 22, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. 1 2 "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. Vol. XXXVI, no. 117 (Final ed.). November 9, 1954. p. 403. Retrieved October 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
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