Azelie Cecil

Biography

Born in Oklahoma, Azelie (alternately spelled Azalee, Azalea, Azelee, and Azalie) made her way to California around 1930 in pursuit of show business ambitions. Though she was reported to have worked in films as early as 1931, her only known screen work came as an uncredited chorus girl in "Footlight Parade" (1933). I suspect, like so many others who never received screen credit, she likely danced in the chorus lines of other musicals of the era. In 1934, Cecil wed director Herbert Leeds (1910-1954). In the months prior to the U.S. entering WWII, she joined the American Women's Volunteer Service, something that displeased her husband. Saying he was "insanely jealous", the couple divorced in 1942. In 1946, she wed a man from a prominent Mexican family who also had ties to England. From there on, she divided her time between California and her husband's family estate in Mexico City. Azelie Cecil died following a heart attack in Mexico in 1983 at the age of 74. Among her survivors was her mother, Mable (1886-1985), who lived to be almost 99 years of age.