Four-Time Tony Award Winner Zoe Caldwell Is Dead at Age 86

Zoe Caldwell, the four-time Tony Award-winning actress known for her nuanced portrayals of lionesses like the murderous Medea and opera diva Maria Callas, has died at the age of 86. Her son, Charlie Whitehead, stated through a spokesperson that the cause of death was complications due to Parkinson’s disease. He said she passed away peacefully at her home in Pound Ridge, New York on February 16.

Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1933, Caldwell began her career at the age of nine in a production of Peter Pan and went on to appear in productions at Melbourne’s Union Theatre Repertory Company and the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company. She moved to London to join the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959 and soon afterward, she began her American career as an original member of the company at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis.

Caldwell made her Broadway debut in The Devils in 1965. The following year, she appeared in Tennessee Williams’ Slapstick Tragedy, which only ran for seven performances, but still won the Caldwell the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She became the talk of the town two years later, when she won her second Tony Award for starring as the title character, a free-spirited schoolteacher, in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. That production was spearheaded by Robert Whitehead, the distinguished director and prolific producer.

Caldwell and Whitehead married in 1968 and had a long and fruitful personal and professional partnership until his death in 2002. Among their many collaborations were Caldwell’s next two Tony-winning performances: one for the classic tragedy Medea in 1982, which Whitehead directed, and one for in 1995 for Terrence McNally’s Master Class, in which she played commanding opera star Maria Callas, that Whitehead produced.

Audra McDonald, who starred opposite Caldwell in Master Class, shared her grief on social media: “My heart is breaking. She was my mentor, my friend, my teacher, my daughter’s namesake and the most brilliant actress and soul I have ever known. I will miss and love her forever. RIP Zoe,” she wrote. McDonald’s eldest daughter is named Zoe Madeline Donovan in honor of Caldwell.

Caldwell is survived by her sons Sam and Charlie Whitehead and grandchildren Ross and Ward Whitehead.