Cleopatra Mary PalmerMBE (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.[1]
Life and career
Sylvestre was brought up in Euston, north London,[2] by her mother, Laureen Sylvestre (née Goodare),[3] a cabaret artist at the Shim Sham Club in Wardour Street, who was born in Yorkshire in 1911.[4][5] Laureen was of mixed English and 'probabl[e] African' heritage, and married Owen Oscar Sylvestre, from Trinidad, in 1944.[5][2] Owen was a Flight Sergeant in the Air Force and had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal; he and Laureen divorced in 1955.[5][2] 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.[2][6]
For twenty years until 2016, she was joint Artistic Director of the award-winning Rosemary Branch Theatre with Cecilia Darker [13], where she regularly performed live music. She was also an Ambassador for the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal (MSMA). In April 2019 she was awarded Screen Nation's Trailblazer Award.[citation needed]
She also reviewed for The Listener magazine and the Times Educational Supplement and contributed a chapter to Theatre in a Cool Climate (Amber Lane Press, 1999). A former council member of Equity, the British actors' union, she was on the board of the Young Vic, Hoxton Hall, Quicksilver Theatre for Children and the Free Form Arts Trust, as well as a judge for the Race in the Media Awards (RIMA) and Croydon Warehouse Theatre's International Playwriting Competition.[citation needed]
She was the inspiration for the character of Honey in the Gaspard the Fox series of children's books by Zeb Soanes, illustrated by James Mayhew, first appearing in Gaspard: Best in Show (Graffeg, 2019). Writing in 2020, Soanes said: 'I can’t remember when I realised that my friend Cleo was exactly the character I was looking for but it was a 'lightbulb' moment. Cleo has been a trailblazer throughout her career [...] and it's a real pleasure to be able to pay tribute to her.'[15]
In August 2024 Sylvestre appeared on BBC's Antiques Roadshow, with treasured mementos from her early career, including a hand-made Christmas card from Jimmy Page.[17]
Personal life and death
Her godparents were composer Constant Lambert, Labour peer Tom Driberg and Daria Hambourg (daughter of the pianist Mark Hambourg).[3][18] Sylvestre was married to Ian Palmer from 1977 until his death in 1995.[19] They had three children, Zoë, Lucy and Rupert.[6] Sylvestre died on 20 September 2024, at the age of 79.[12][20]