Cleo Sylvestre (Cleopatra Mary Palmer) – 09/20/2024

Cleo Sylvestre began her entertainment career as a teenager, making notable firsts in music and acting. Initially a singer, she recorded “To Know Him Is to Love Him” in 1964 with the Rolling Stones, becoming the first woman to record with them. However, she soon shifted her focus to acting.

In 1967, Sylvestre debuted in London’s West End in “Wise Child,” and in 1969, she starred in “The National Health” at the National Theatre, becoming the first Black actress in a leading role there. Her stage career flourished alongside her television and film appearances.

By the mid-‘60s, she took on small TV roles in shows like “Doctor Who” and “Coronation Street.” A breakthrough came in 1970 when she played Melanie in “Crossroads,” becoming the first Black woman in a regular role on a British soap opera. Sylvestre also appeared in “Grange Hill” and “The Bill,” and in 2020, she was cast in the reboot of “All Creatures Great and Small.”

In 2023, she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for her groundbreaking career.

On “Crossroads,” Sylvestre said, “The series was ridiculed by some critics, but it did a tremendous amount of good just having an ordinary person in there that happened to be Black.”