Zoe Ada Caldwell (14 September 1933 – 16 February 2020) was an Australian actress. 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). 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.Nightingale, Benedict. Her Infinite Variety, The New York Times, 21 October 2001; accessed 27 May 2008. 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.

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).

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, 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.

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. In 2011, she acted in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

Personal life Caldwell graduated from Methodist Ladies' College, Kew, and, much later, received an honorary degree from the University of Melbourne. 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.Gussow, Mel (17 June 2002). "Robert Whitehead, Who Brought Top Playwrights to Broadway, Dies at 86" The New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2014.

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

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

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1962 Festival in Adelaide Saint Joan 1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo The Countess 2002 Lilo & Stitch Grand Councilwoman Voice 2003 Stitch! The Movie Voice, direct-to-video 2004 Birth Mrs. Hill Stitch's Great Escape! Grand Councilwoman Voice, short 2006 Leroy & Stitch Voice, direct-to-video 2011 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Oskar's Grandmother (final film role)

Television Year Title Role Notes 1959 A Midsummer Night's Dream Fairy TV movie 1960 BBC Sunday Night Play Ruth Honeywill Episode: "Twentieth Century Theatre: Justice" ITV Playhouse Louise Episode: "The Song of Louise in the Morning" Suspense Kathy Harrison Episode: "Flight 404" Theatre 70 Episode: "The Neighbour" 1961 Macbeth Lady Macbeth TV movie, CBC, Canada;Sean Connery, Macbeth 1963 Festival Episode: "The Doctor's Dilemma" 1964 Playdate Streetwalker Episode: "A Night Out" Dear Liar Mrs. Patrick Campbell TV movie 1968 The Secret of Michelangelo Narrator 1971 Great Performances Sarah Bernhardt Episode: "Sarah ... Sarah Bernhardt" 1978 Play of the Month Mme. Arkadina Episode: "The Seagull" 1983 Medea Medea TV movie 1986 American Masters Carlotta Monterey O'Neill Episode: "Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts" 1989 Lantern Hill Mrs. Kennedy TV movie 1990 Road to Avonlea Old Lady Lloyd Episode: "Old Lady Lloyd" 2003 Lilo & Stitch: The Series Grand Councilwoman Voice, Episode: "Finder"

Theatre credits

Year Title Role Notes 1958 Romeo and Juliet unnamed parts Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1958 Twelfth Night unnamed parts Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1958 Hamlet unnamed parts Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1958 Pericles Antiochus' Daughter, unnamed parts Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1958 Much Ado About Nothing Margaret Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1958 Hamlet unnamed parts USSR tour 1958 Romeo and Juliet unnamed parts USSR tour 1958 Twelfth Night unnamed parts USSR tour 1959 Othello Bianca Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1959 All's Well That Ends Well Helena Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1959 A Midsummer Night's Dream Fairy Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1959 King Lear Cordelia Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1961 The Changeling Isabella Royal Court Theatre 1961 Love's Labour's Lost Rosaline Festival Theatre 1965 The Devils Sister Jean of the Angels – replacement Broadway Theatre 1966 Slapstick Tragedy Polly Longacre Theater – Tony Award 1967 Richard III Lady Anne Festival Theatre 1967 The Merry Wives of Windsor Mistress Page Festival Theatre 1967 Antony and Cleopatra Cleopatra Festival Theatre; Expo Theatre 1968 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Jean Brodie Helen Hayes Theater – Tony Award 1972 The Creation of the World and Other Business Eve Shubert Theater 1974 Dance of Death Alice Vivian Beaumont Theater 1977 An Almost Perfect Person Director Belasco Theater 1979 Richard II Director Avon Theatre 1982 Medea Medea Cort Theater – Tony Award 1986 Lillian Lillian Ethel Barrymore Theater 1988 Macbeth Director Mark Hellinger Theatre 1991 Park Your Car In Harvard Yard Music Box Theater 1995–1997 Master Class Maria Callas John Golden Theater – Tony Award 2003 The Play What I Wrote Mystery Guest Star – replacement Lyceum Theater The Visit Claire Zachanassian Melbourne Theatre Company

Video games Year Title Role Notes 2002 Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626 Grand Councilwoman Deleted role; credit only 2010 Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Bibliography

Awards and nominations + Awards and nominations Award Year Category Work Result Ref.Tony Awards 1966 Best Featured Actress in a Play Slapstick Tragedy 1968 Best Actress in a Play The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 1982 Medea 1996 Master Class Drama Desk Awards 1970 Outstanding Performance Colette 1982 Outstanding Actress in a Play Medea 1996 Master Class

References

External links

Zoe Caldwell interviewed by Hazel de Berg, sound recording held by National Library of Australia