Cleo Sylvestre Archive

Overview

Cleo Sylvestre MBE (1945–2024) was a pioneering British actor and singer from London. She was educated at Camden School for Girls and trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, before making her West End debut in Simon Gray’s The Wise Child (1967), earning a nomination as the “most promising new actress.” 

Cleo's breakthrough role came in 1969 as Nurse Norton in Peter Nichol’s play ‘The National Health’, the first Black woman to play a leading role at the National Theatre in London. Cleo broke further ground on television when she starred as the first regular Black British female character in a soap opera - playing Melanie Harper in Crossroads (1970-72).  

Her theatre career spanned major companies and productions, including several seasons at the Young Vic, Anthony Sher’s ‘ID’ (2003), Alison Mead’s ‘A Century of Women’ (2011), and Under Milk Wood (2021) alongside Michael Sheen. On screen, she appeared in television shows such as Doctor Who, Coronation Street, Grange Hill, The Bill, All Creatures Great and Small, Some Women, and films including Till Death Us Do Part (1969), Trog (1970), Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987), Kidulthood (2006), and Paddington (2014). She also worked regularly with Ken Loach, on Cathy Come Home (1966), Up the Junction (1965) and on his first film Poor Cow (1967). 

Beyond acting, she was joint Artistic Director of the award-winning Rosemary Branch Theatre with Cecilia Darker, where she regularly performed live music. She also performed her acclaimed one-woman show on Mary Seacole, the British-Jamaican nurse who served during the Crimean war. Cleo championed the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal, which was unveiled in 2016.  She also served on boards including the Young Vic and Hoxton Hall, and was a former council member of Equity, the British actors' union. 

Cleo was a blues singer and is known for being the first female vocalist to sing with The Rolling Stones on her single To Know Him is to Love Him in 1964. In her later years, Cleo returned to music and performed under the alter ego ‘Honey B Mama’.  

Her achievements were officially recognised with a Screen Nation Trailblazer Award in 2019 and an MBE in 2023 for services to drama and charity. 

What the collection holds

The collection consists of material relating to Cleo Sylvestre’s career and life, including correspondence, scripts, posters, photographs, programmes, books and audio-visual material. The collection contains material relating to Cleo’s appearance in The National Health, as well as correspondence with her contemporary and friend, Thomas Baptiste. 

The Cleo Sylvestre archive is currently uncatalogued. Please contact us for more information.