Cleo Sylvestre

Cleo Sylvestre

Known for: Acting
Biography: 1945-04-19
Deathday: 2024-09-20 (79 years old)

Biography

Cleopatra Mary Palmer (née Sylvestre; 19 April 1945 – 20 September 2024), known professionally as Cleo Sylvestre, was a British actress. She was the first black woman ever to play a leading role at the National Theatre in London, and the first woman to record with The Rolling Stones.


Sylvestre was brought up in Euston, north London, by her mother, Laureen Sylvestre (née Goodare), a cabaret artist at the Shim Sham Club in Wardour Street, who was born in Yorkshire in 1911. Laureen was of mixed English and African' heritage, and married Owen Oscar Sylvestre, from Trinidad, in 1944. Owen was a Flight Sergeant in the Air Force and had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal; he and Laureen divorced in 1955. Sylvestre always understood Owen to be her father; her daughter Zoë discovered many years later - whilst working in Sierra Leone - that her biological father was Ben Lewis, a lawyer from Sierra Leone whom the family called Uncle Ben, and that she had 15 half-siblings. Aged eight, she made her film debut in Johnny on the Run.


Sylvestre was educated at Camden School for Girls and also attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. In 1964 she released a single, "To Know Him Is to Love Him", under the name "Cleo", produced by Andrew Loog Oldham and backed by The Rolling Stones. After Brian Jones left the Rolling Stones in 1969, she agreed to rehearse with his new band but abandoned music to concentrate on her theatre and television work.


Her West End debut was at Wyndham's Theatre in Wise Child (1967) by Simon Gray, in which she starred alongside Sir Alec Guinness and was nominated most promising new actress. She was the first black actress in a leading role at the National Theatre in The National Health (1969) by Peter Nichols. She did several seasons with the Young Vic Company, including Molière's Les Fourberies de Scapin on Broadway and a tour of Mexico. She subsequently worked in many regional theatres, including the Theatre Royal, Lincoln, the Theatre Royal, Brighton, the Theatre Royal, York, the Derby Playhouse and the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. She played Phaedre at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2007 and Rosa Parks, Josephine Baker and Wangari Maathai in Alison Mead's A Century of Women at Leicester Square Theatre (2011). She appeared with Antony Sher in his play ID (2003) at the Almeida Theatre, toured with English Touring Theatre in Far from the Madding Crowd (2008) and with Northern Broadsides in its 2010 production of Medea. She also appeared with Michael Sheen in Under Milk Wood (2021) at the Royal National Theatre. Children's theatre work includes seasons at the Unicorn Theatre and the London Bubble Theatre Company.


Her television appearances include: Ken Loach's Up the Junction (1965), Doctor Who (1965), Cathy Come Home (1966) and Poor Cow (1967), as well as appearances in the original Till Death Us Do Part, Z-Cars, Callan, Doctors, New Tricks, The Armando Iannucci Shows, Chambers, The Bill, Who Do You Do and A Bird in the Hand, a Tube Tales episode directed by Jude Law. After a brief appearance as a factory worker in soap opera Coronation Street in 1966, she became the first ever regular black British female character on British TV, in the original series of Crossroads, playing Meg Richardson's adopted daughter Melanie from 1970 to 1972.

Information

Known For
Acting

Gender
Female

Birthday
1945-04-19

Deathday
2024-09-20 (79 years old)

Birth Place
Hitchin, United Kingdom

Relationships
Mick Jagger (1961 - 1963)

Mother
Laureen Sylvestre

Citizenships
United Kingdom

Awards
Member of the Order of the British Empire

This article uses material from Wikipedia.

Last updated:

Barry Jackson
Cleo Sylvestre,
Barry Jackson worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
1 Movie
7 TV Shows
Brian Blessed
Cleo Sylvestre,
Brian Blessed worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
6 TV Shows
Michael Graham Cox
Cleo Sylvestre,
Michael Graham Cox worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
6 TV Shows
John Bailey
Cleo Sylvestre,
John Bailey worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
5 TV Shows
Keith Barron
Cleo Sylvestre,
Keith Barron worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
5 TV Shows
Tony Selby
Cleo Sylvestre,
Tony Selby worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
5 TV Shows
George Sewell
Cleo Sylvestre,
George Sewell worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
5 TV Shows
John Savident
Cleo Sylvestre,
John Savident worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
5 TV Shows
Timothy Bateson
Cleo Sylvestre,
Timothy Bateson worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
5 TV Shows
Geoffrey Palmer
Cleo Sylvestre,
Geoffrey Palmer worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
1 Movie
4 TV Shows
Kenneth Colley
Cleo Sylvestre,
Kenneth Colley worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
Julian Glover
Cleo Sylvestre,
Julian Glover worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
Jimmy Gardner
Cleo Sylvestre,
Jimmy Gardner worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
Peter Jeffrey
Cleo Sylvestre,
Peter Jeffrey worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
George Baker
Cleo Sylvestre,
George Baker worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
Donald Douglas
Cleo Sylvestre,
Donald Douglas worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
Warren Clarke
Cleo Sylvestre,
Warren Clarke worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
Philip Anthony
Cleo Sylvestre,
Philip Anthony worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
John Abineri
Cleo Sylvestre,
John Abineri worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
Frank Mills
Cleo Sylvestre,
Frank Mills worked together with Cleo Sylvestre in:
4 TV Shows
  • Cleo Sylvestre
    Cleo Sylvestre
  • Filmography
  • Information
  • Related Persons
Social Media
X
Facebook
Telegram
Download
iOS Application
Made in Ukraine 🇺🇦
Copyright © MovieFit 2018 – 2024
All external content remains the property of its respective owner.