Caldwell, Zoe 1933–

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CALDWELL, Zoe 1933


PERSONAL


Original name, Ada Caldwell; born September 14, 1933, in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia; daughter of A. E. (a plumber) and Zoe (a singer and dancer) Caldwell; married Robert Whitehead (a producer), May 9, 1968 (died June 15, 2002); children: William "Sam" Edgar, Charlie. Education: Attended Methodist Ladies College, Melbourne, Australia.


Addresses: Contact c/o WhiteheadStevens, 1501 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.


Career: Actress and director. Neighborhood Playhouse, New York City, teacher of Shakespearean drama, 1970; Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt Visiting Eminent Scholar in Theatre, 198993; previously worked as a pickle factory worker.


Awards, Honors: Theatre World Award, 196566; Antoinette Perry Award, best supporting dramatic actress, 1966, for Slapstick Tragedy; Drama League Distinguished Performance Award, 1968; Antoinette Perry Award, best dramatic actress, 1968, for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; Drama Desk Award, outstanding performance, 1970, for Colette; Order of the British Empire, 1970; Andrew Allen Award, best acting performance in radio, 1981; Drama Desk Award, best actress, and Antoinette Perry Award, best dramatic actress, 1982, both for Medea; Barrymore Award, outstanding performance by a lead actress in a play, Ovation Award, lead actress in a play, 1995, Drama Desk Award, best actress in a play, Outer Critics Circle Award, outstanding performance by an actress, and Antoinette Perry Award, best actress, all 1996, all for Master Class; Elliot Norton Award, 1997, for lifetime achievement.

CREDITS


Stage Appearances:

Title role, Major Barbara, Union Theatre Repertory Company, Melbourne, Australia, 1953.

Bubba, The Seventeenth Doll, Elizabethan Theatre Trust, Sydney, Australia, 1954.

Ophelia, Hamlet, Elizabethan Theatre Trust, 1954.

Twelfth Night, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, StratforduponAvon, England, 1958.

Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, 1958.

Daughter of Antiochus, Pericles, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, 1958.

Margaret, Much Ado about Nothing, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, 1958.

Bianca, Othello, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, 1959.

Cordelia, King Lear, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, 1959.

Helena, All's Well That Ends Well, Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, 1959.

A fairy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Winter Garden Theatre, New York City, 1959.

(London debut) Whore, "Cob and Leach," in Trials by Logue (doublebill), Royal Court Theatre, London, 1960.

Ismene, Antigone, Royal Court Theatre, 1960.

Isabella, The Changeling, Royal Court Theatre, 1961.

Jacqueline, Jacques, Royal Court Theatre, 1961.

Rosaline, Love's Labour's Lost, Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, Stratford, Ontario, 1961.

Sonja Downfahl, The Canvas Barricade, Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, 1961.

Pegeen Mike, The Playboy of the Western World, Manitoba Theatre Center, Winnipeg, Canada, 1961.

Title role, Saint Joan, Adelaide Festival of the Arts, Adelaide, Australia, 1962.

Ham Funeral, Elizabethan Theatre Trust, 1962.

Nola Boyle, The Season at Sarsaparilla, Union Theatre Repertory Company, Union Theatre, Melbourne, Australia, 1962.

Frosine, The Miser, Minnesota Theatre Company, Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, 1963.

Natalia, The Three Sisters, Minnesota Theatre Company, Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, 1963.

Woman, Death of a Salesman, Minnesota Theatre Company, Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, 1963.

Elizabeth Von Ritter, A Far Country, Crest Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1964.

Title role, Mother Courage, Manitoba Theatre Center, 1964.

Countess Aurelia, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Goodman Memorial Theatre, Chicago, IL, 1964.

Millamant, The Way of the World, Minnesota Theatre Company, Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, 1965.

Grusha Vashnadze, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Minnesota Theatre Company, Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, 1965.

Frosine, The Miser, Minnesota Theatre Company, Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, 1965.

(Broadway debut) Sister Jean, The Devils, Broadway Theatre, 1966.

Polly, "The Gnadiges Fraulein," in Slapstick Tragedy (doublebill), Longacre Theatre, New York City, 1966.

Orinthia, The Apple Cart, Shaw Festival, NiagaraontheLake, Ontario, 1966.

Lena Szczepanowska, Misalliance, Shaw Festival, 1966.

Lady Anne, Richard III, Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, 1967.

Mrs. Page, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, 1967.

Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra, Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, 1967.

Title role, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Helen Hayes Theatre, 1968.

Title role, Colette, Ellen Stewart Theatre, New York City, 1970.

Emma, Lady Hamilton, A Bequest to the Nation, Hay-market Theatre, London, 1970.

Eve, The Creation of the World and Other Business, Shubert Theatre, New York City, 1972.

Love and Master Will, Opera House, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, 1973.

Alice, Dance of Death, Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York City, 1974.

Mary Cavan Tyrone, Long Day's Journey into Night, Eisenhower Theatre, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 1975, then Brooklyn Academy of Music/Opera House, New York City, 1976.

The Neighborhood Playhouse at 50: A Celebration, Shubert Theatre, 1978.

Title role, Medea, Cort Theatre, New York City, 1982, then Clarence Brown Company, Knoxville, TN, 1982.

Title role, Lillian (solo show), Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, 1986.

Katharine Brynne, A Perfect Ganesh, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City, 1993.

Maria Callas, Master Class, John Golden Theatre, New York City, 1995.

Come AWaltzing With Me, Boston University Theatre, Boston, MA, 1997.

The Play What I Wrote, Lyceum Theatre, New York City, 2003.

Made stage debut at age nine as Slightly Soiled, Peter Pan, Melbourne; also appeared as Maria Callas, Master Class, Philadelphia Theatre Company and Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles.

Major Tours:

Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and Romeo and Juliet, U.S.S.R. cities, 19581959.

Also toured with her solo show.

Stage Work:

Director, An Almost Perfect Person, Belasco Theatre, New York City, 1977.

Director, Richard II, Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, Stratford, Ontario, 1979.

Director, These Men, Harold Clurman Theatre, New York City, 1980.

Director, Othello, Winter Garden Theatre, New York City, 1981.

Director, The Taming of the Shrew, American Shakespeare Theatre, 1985.

Director, Hamlet, American Shakespeare Theatre, 1985.

Director, Macbeth, Mark Hellinger Theatre, New York City, 1988.

Producer and director, A Christmas Carol, Hudson Theatre, New York City, 1990.

Director, Park Your Car in Harvard Yard, American National Theatre Academy, Music Box Theatre, New York City, 1991.

Director, Vita and Virginia, New York City, 1995.

Film Appearances:

Countess, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Orion, 1985.

Voice of Grand Councilwoman of the United Galactic Federation, Lilo & Stitch (animated), Buena Vista, 2002.

Voice, Stitch! The Movie (animated), Buena Vista Home Video, 2003.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Sarah Bernhardt (title role), "Sarah," Great Performances, PBS, 1977.

Mrs. Kennedy, Lantern Hill (also known as Jane of Lantern Hill ), The Disney Channel, 1990.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Witness to Yesterday, 1974.

The 36th Annual Tony Awards, 1982.

Title role, Medea, 1983.

Carlotta Monterey O'Neill, Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts (also known as American Masters: Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts ), 1985.

The 43rd Annual Tony Awards, CBS, 1989.

The 50th Annual Tony Awards, CBS, 1996.

Also appeared in The Seagull; The Apple Cart; Macbeth; The Lady's Not for Burning.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, 1970.

Margaret Lloyd, "Old Lady Lloyd" (also known as "Song in the Night"), Road to Avonlea, The Disney Channel, 1990.

Voice of Grand Councilwoman, "Lilo & Stitch," Stitch! The TV Series, 2002.

Radio Appearances:

Appeared as Arkadina, The Seagull, BBC; Sarah Bernhardt, Sarah, CBC.

WRITINGS


Autobiography:

I Will Be Cleopatra: An Actress's Journey, 2002.

OTHER SOURCES


Books:

International Dictionary of Theatre, Volume 3: Actors, Directors, and Designers, St. James Press, 1996.

Periodicals:

New York, September 11, 1995, p. 64; May 13, 1996, p. 48.

Opera News, September, 1997, p. 28.

Publishers Weekly, August 20, 2001, p. 67.

TheaterMania, June 2, 2000; December 31, 2001.

Variety, January 21, 2002, p. 45.

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Caldwell, Zoe 1933–

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