Cleo Ridgely was born Freda Cleo Helwig in New York City. She was the daughter of August Helwig and Catherine Emily Sommerkamp. She had two sisters, Christina and Martha. Cleo Ridgely starred with Ruth Roland in a girl detective series in the 1920s and co-starred in a number of films with Wallace Reid and Lew Cody. She was married to James W. Horne, who directed the Laurel and Hardy comedies for many years. Horne died in 1942. She was divorced from her first husband, Jaudon M. Ridgely, in the Los Angeles, California courts in December 1916. Cleo worked with Famous Players-Lasky Film Company and also for Paramount Pictures. She was selected queen of the Auburn exhibit at the downtown automobile show in Los Angeles, California in October 1915. A publicity photo posed the actress with a 1916 Auburn Six. It was made by the Auburn Automobile Company and appeared at the show. Cleo was an accomplished horse woman and rode across country on horseback with her first husband from New York to San FranciscoIin 1912, making numerous promotional stops along the way in a trip that lasted 18 months. In one of her Lasky features she stopped a run-away four-in-hand, risking her life, while on top of a stage coach. Ridgely lived her later years in Glendale, California. She passed away in 1962 at her home at the age of 68. She was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. In 2016, Cleo Ridgely was honored with a Letter of Commendation by the City of Glendale, California.