Cleo Sylvestre: Actress and singer who was backed by The Rolling Stones and appeared in Coronation Street

She had been a feature of film, stage, television and music since the 1960s, sometimes using the name Cleopatra Palmer, and played Melanie Harper, Meg Richardson’s adopted daughter, in ITV’s Crossroads.

Her film roles have ranged from the 2014 film Paddington and 1993’s The Punk, while her TV appearances include The Bill, New Tricks, Till Death Do Us Part, Grange Hill, Doctor Who and Coronation Street.

She made her debut at the Royal Shakespeare Company in As You Like It last year after a long theatrical career that included Wise Child at Wyndham’s Theatre, and National Health, in 1969 where she was the first black actress in a leading role at the National Theatre, and Under Milk Wood also at the National.

In 2023, she was made an MBE for services to drama and charity.

Her most recent screen roles included ITV thriller Platform 7, and as a maid in Channel 5’s revamp of the Yorkshire period drama, All Creatures Great And Small.

Ms Sylvestre was born in Hertfordshire, the daughter of Yorkshire-born dancer Laureen (née Goodare) and Owen Sylvestre, a Trinidadian air force sergeant who came to Britain during the war. Tom Driberg, later a Labour MP, was a friend of Laureen and was Cleo’s godfather.

Her biological father, she discovered later in life, was a man who had always signed his letters from Sierra Leone to her as Uncle Ben. He was a lawyer, Ben Lewis.

Cleo married Ian Palmer in 1977 and worked in provincial theatre in York, Lincoln and elsewhere while raising their two daughters and a son. Ian died in 1995 and she is survived by the children.