Zoe Caldwell

Zoe Ada Caldwell OBE (14 September 1933 – 16 February 2020) was an Australian actress.[1] She was a four-time Tony Award winner, winning Best Featured Actress in a Play for Slapstick Tragedy (1966), and Best Actress in a Play for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968), Medea (1982), and Master Class (1996). Her film appearances include The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Birth (2004), and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011).

Zoe Caldwell

Born
Zoe Ada Caldwell

(1933-09-14)14 September 1933
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died16 February 2020(2020-02-16) (aged 86)
Resting placePound Ridge Cemetery, Pound Ridge, New York, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1953–2018
Spouse
(m. 1968; died 2002)
Children2

She was also known for providing the voice of the Grand Councilwoman in the Lilo & Stitch franchise and in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

Early life

Caldwell was born in Melbourne, and raised in the suburb of Balwyn. Her father, Edgar, was a plumber.[2] Caldwell's mother often took some of the neighbourhood kids to the Elizabethan Theatre in Richmond where they could go backstage and watch rehearsals and performances.[3][4]

Career

Caldwell began her career in Melbourne in the 1950s and early 1960s, performing with the newly formed Union Theatre Repertory Company (later the Melbourne Theatre Company).[5]

She emigrated to England upon being invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company at a time when Charles Laughton was attempting to revive Lear, and Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins, Albert Finney were among the other newcomers in the company. She played Bianca in the 1959 production of Othello, starring Paul Robeson. Later she played the indomitable Helena, opposite Dame Edith Evans in a production of All's Well That Ends Well. Her career later brought her to the United States, where she was one of the original company of actors under Guthrie's direction at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. At the Guthrie, she played parts such as Ophelia in Hamlet and Natasha in Three Sisters.

A life member of the Actors Studio,[6] Caldwell won four Tony Awards for her performances on Broadway in Tennessee Williams' Slapstick Tragedy, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Medea and Master Class. In the last she portrayed opera diva Maria Callas. In Stratford, Ontario she appeared often, including her role as Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra opposite Christopher Plummer's Mark Antony in 1967.[7]

Her other credits on Broadway include Arthur Miller's The Creation of the World and Other Business in which she played Eve, a one-woman play by William Luce based on the life of Lillian Hellman and a production of Macbeth with Christopher Plummer as Macbeth and Glenda Jackson as Lady Macbeth under Caldwell's direction. Caldwell directed, Off-Broadway, a two-woman play, created by Eileen Atkins, Vita and Virginia, based on the letters between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. Atkins played Virginia and Vanessa Redgrave played Vita. Caldwell directed the Broadway production of Othello in the late 1970s with James Earl Jones, Christopher Plummer, and Dianne Wiest. She helmed the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut for two limited-run seasons as its Artistic Director in the mid-1980s.

Caldwell also performed on film, most notably as an imperious dowager in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo. She voiced the character of the Grand Councilwoman in Disney's Lilo & Stitch, and continued voicing the character in the franchise's later films and in Lilo & Stitch: The Series, as well as in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.[8] In 2011, she acted in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.[9]

Personal life

Caldwell graduated from Methodist Ladies' College, Kew and, much later, received an honorary degree from the University of Melbourne.[10] In 1968, she married Canadian-born Broadway producer Robert Whitehead, a cousin of actor Hume Cronyn. They had two sons and were married until Whitehead's death in June 2002.[11]

Honours

In 1970, Caldwell was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by The Queen.[9]

Death

Caldwell died in Pound Ridge, New York on 16 February 2020, aged 86, of complications from Parkinson's disease.[1]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1962Festival in AdelaideSaint Joan
1985The Purple Rose of CairoThe Countess
2002Lilo & StitchGrand CouncilwomanVoice
2003Stitch! The MovieVoice, direct-to-video
2004BirthMrs. Hill
2004Stitch's Great Escape!Grand CouncilwomanVoice, short
2006Leroy & StitchVoice, direct-to-video
2011Extremely Loud & Incredibly CloseOskar's Grandmother(final film role)

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1959A Midsummer Night's DreamFairyTV movie
1960BBC Sunday Night PlayRuth HoneywillEpisode: "Twentieth Century Theatre: Justice"
1960ITV PlayhouseLouiseEpisode: "The Song of Louise in the Morning"
1960SuspenseKathy HarrisonEpisode: "Flight 404"
1960Theatre 70Episode: "The Neighbour"
1961MacbethLady MacbethTV movie
1963FestivalEpisode: "The Doctor's Dilemma"
1964PlaydateStreetwalkerEpisode: "A Night Out"
1964Dear LiarMrs. Patrick CampbellTV movie
1968The Secret of MichelangeloNarratorTV movie
1971Great PerformancesSarah BernhardtEpisode: "Sarah ... Sarah Bernhardt"
1978Play of the MonthMme. ArkadinaEpisode: "The Seagull"
1983MedeaMedeaTV movie
1986American MastersCarlotta Monterey O'NeillEpisode: "Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts"
1989Lantern HillMrs. KennedyTV movie
1990Road to AvonleaOld Lady LloydEpisode: "Old Lady Lloyd"
2003Lilo & Stitch: The SeriesGrand CouncilwomanVoice, Episode: "Finder"

Theatre credits

YearTitleRoleNotes
1965The DevilsSister Jean of the Angels – replacementBroadway Theatre
1966Slapstick TragedyPollyLongacre Theater – Tony Award
1968The Prime of Miss Jean BrodieJean BrodieHelen Hayes Theater – Tony Award
1972The Creation of the World and Other BusinessEveShubert Theater
1974Dance of DeathAliceVivian Beaumont Theater
1977An Almost Perfect PersonDirectorBelasco Theater
1982MedeaMedeaCort Theater – Tony Award
1986LillianLillianEthel Barrymore Theater
1988MacbethDirectorMark Hellinger Theatre
1991Park Your Car In Harvard YardDirectorMusic Box Theater
1995–1997Master ClassMaria CallasJohn Golden Theater – Tony Award
2003The Play What I WroteMystery Guest Star – replacementLyceum Theater
2003The VisitClaire ZachanassianMelbourne Theatre Company

Video games

YearTitleRoleNotes
2002Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626Grand CouncilwomanDeleted role; credit only
2010Kingdom Hearts Birth by SleepGrand Councilwoman

Bibliography

  • Caldwell, Zoe (2002). I Will be Cleopatra: An Actress's Journey. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0393323603.

References

  1. Genzlinger, Neil (18 February 2020). "Zoe Caldwell, Winner of Four Tony Awards, Is Dead at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  2. Nightingale, Benedict. Her Infinite Variety, The New York Times, 21 October 2001; accessed 27 May 2008.
  3. "Ms Zoe Caldwell". University of Melbourne. 29 September 2003. Archived from the original on 30 August 2006. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  4. "New York State Writers Institute on Caldwell". State University of New York. Archived from the original on 31 October 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2006.
  5. "Zoe Caldwell". AusStage. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  6. Garfield, David (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of the Actors Studio as of January 1980". A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing. p. 277. ISBN 978-0025426504.
  7. "Zoe Caldwell". Stratford Festival. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  8. "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep details". IMDb. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  9. Conevey, Michael (19 February 2020). "Zoe Caldwell obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  10. "Performing Arts at Pace University Presents An Evening with Zoe Caldwell, 4/23" (Press release). Pace University. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  11. Gussow, Mel (17 June 2002). "Robert Whitehead, Who Brought Top Playwrights to Broadway, Dies at 86" The New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
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