Zoe Caldwell

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

The recorded working language is English. Residence is recorded at Pound Ridge. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Theatre World Award, Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

• Name — Zoe Caldwell • Birth Name — Zoe Ada Caldwell • Born — 14 September 1933 • Birthplace — Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Died — 16 February 2020 • Place of death — Pound Ridge, New York, U.S. • Awards — Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play • Education — Methodist Ladies' College, Kew • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1953–2018 • Children — 2 • Resting Place — Pound Ridge Cemetery, Pound Ridge, New York, U.S.

Caldwell was born in Melbourne, and raised in the suburb of Balwyn. Her father, Edgar, was a plumber. 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.

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.

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.

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

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1959 — data-sort-value="Midsummer Night's Dream, A" | 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 — data-sort-value="Secret of Michelangelo, The" | 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"

• 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 — data-sort-value="Devils, The" | 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 — data-sort-value="Merry Wives of Windsor, The" | The Merry Wives of Windsor — Mistress Page — Festival Theatre • 1967 — Antony and Cleopatra — Cleopatra — Festival Theatre; Expo Theatre • 1968 — data-sort-value="Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The" | The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie — Jean Brodie — Helen Hayes Theater – Tony Award • 1972 — data-sort-value="Creation of the World and Other Business, The" | The Creation of the World and Other Business — Eve — Shubert Theater • 1974 — data-sort-value="Dance of Death, The" | 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 — data-sort-value="Play What I Wrote, The" | The Play What I Wrote — Mystery Guest Star – replacement — Lyceum Theater • data-sort-value="Visit, The" | The Visit — Claire Zachanassian — Melbourne Theatre Company

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

Zoe Caldwell is recorded as having received Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Theatre World Award and Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

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

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