Zoe Caldwell: Award-winning Broadway star of remarkable versatility

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Zoe Caldwell was one of the most acclaimed stage performers of her generation, winning four Tony awards for her portrayals of complex female characters ranging from Medea in classical Greek tragedy to the powerful yet vulnerable Maria Callas in Master Class. Over the next few years, Caldwell appeared in an off-Broadway play about the life of French writer Colette and turned to directing, including several plays by Shakespeare and a 1977 Broadway comedy, An Almost Perfect Person, starring Colleen Dewhurst as a congressional candidate. “She lets you in on her soul,” she said of Callas, “and her soul is moulded by art.” Master Class premiered on Broadway in 1995 and won Tonys for best play, best supporting actress and best actress, for Caldwell. When she took on the role of Lillian Hellman in William Luce’s 1986 one-woman play about the dramatist, Caldwell even took up smoking again, to inhabit her character more fully.