Caldwell, Zoë (1933–)

Australian actress and director. Name variations: Zoe Caldwell. Born Sept 14, 1933, in Melbourne, Australia; attended Methodist Ladies College; m. Robert Whitehead (theatrical producer), 1968 (died 2002); children: 2 sons, including Charles Whitehead (producer).

Highly successful stage actress and director, studied dance, elocution and music when young; made theatrical debut at 9in Peter Pan and worked on national radio soap operas as a teenager; was one of the original members of Melbourne's Union Theatre Repertory Co. (1954–57); made British debut at Stratford-upon-Avon (1958); joined Royal Court Co. (1960); helped launch Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minnesota (1963); made Broadway debut in The Devils (1965); won Best Actress Tonys for performances in Slapstick Tragedy (1966), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1968), Medea (1982), and Master Class (1995); also worked as theatrical director, most notably for Broadway productions of Othello and Park Your Car at Harvard Yard, as well as offBroadway hit Vita & Virginia; collaborated with husband on The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Medea and with son Charles on The Play What I Wrote (2003); also worked in tv and film, appearing briefly in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) and more prominently in Macbeth (1961), Medea (1983), and as Sarah Bernhardt in Sarah (1976). Awarded Order of British Empire (OBE, 1970).

See also Zoë Caldwell, I Will Be Cleopatra: An Actress's Journey (Norton, 2001).