European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday february 1, 1986 Page 17 % j Zoe Caldwell inhabited by Lillian Hellman by Michael Kuchwara associated press z of Caldwell As Lillian  actress As celebrated playwright and  Prospect is tantalizing. But Lor Caldwell a three time Tony Winner Lillian a new one woman play by William Luce has been the hardest of her career. I Lesl sted her. She was not an easy person to let inhabit me says Caldwell who in the past has surrendered herself to some pretty impressive stage personalities including medea Colette Mother courage Cleopatra miss Jean Brodie and Saint Joan. Lillian was a deeply funny woman but there Are certain unhappy and abrasive qualities about her that were not easy to assume says Caldwell. Sitting with her husband producer Robert Whitehead in his times Square office. The play takes place during a difficult period in Hellman s Lile the last two hours before the death of mystery writer Dashiell Hammett Hellman s close companion for More than 30 years. The woman Waits alone in the Hospital for Hammett to die and the play churns up memories and people from her life. Luce who also wrote the Bella of Amherst a one woman show based on the life of Emily Dickinson Drew material from three Hellman autobiographies an unfinished woman Pentlen Toad scoundrel time. Originally the play called for six actors. Luce who was approved for the project by Hellman before she died in 1984. Worked closely with Whitehead and Caldwell last summer at their Home in Pound Edge. N.y., revising the script. We had a very cooperative and collaborative relationship will head says. The More we read the script and discussed it together the More it seemed to me that Zoe would be More exciting playing All the  in the final version which journeyed from the Cleveland play House to the Kennedy Center in Washington and finally to Broadway s Ethel Barrymore theater she does. We found out that Lillian was a very Good mimic Caldwell says. She could mimic people very Well when she told stories which is what i do in the  despite their extensive theatrical careers Whitehead and Caldwell never worked with Hellman Best known for her plays the Little foxes the children s hour. Watch on the Rhine and another part of the Forest and As the woman who stood up to sen. Joseph Mccarthy and the House committee on in american activities. But Whitehead knew her casually for some 35 years. Lillian was always very attractive and very stimulating. I never had the conflict that people sometimes feel when they Are working together. It s possible that if i had done a play of hers i would t be doing this one Whitehead says with a laugh. Caldwell met Hellman Only once at a wedding. Lullan adored men. There Are just some women who Don t get along Well with other women Caldwell says. But she had a Small group of female friends. She especially liked Dorothy Parker Maureen Stapleton Mike Nichols wife Annabel and John Hersey s wife Barbara. It was to people like Barbara Hersey and Maureen Aetna zoo Caldwell Tayi her role in one woman play about Lillian Hellman hat been her hardest. Stapleton that Caldwell went in search of insight into Hellman. She also read everything the woman had written ripping out pages of Hellman s books and underlining passages that affected her. She also studied voice recordings and videotapes especially Hellman s appearances on the Dick Cavett show. Before i go on stage each night i listen to her voice and read something from sound Al time unfinished woman or pen Tomento Caldwell says. I think i know More about Lillian than  Hellman also had a father she adored. He was tall and Good looking All the things that dash was. Now that s not unusual for a girl to fall in love with her father. I think she searched for a repeat of that relationship and found it in dash Caldwell says. New York to twi photo the late Lillian Hellman in a 1973 photo. Both men had a lot of other women in their lives. Both were Bon Viva its and both were socialist Cally inclined. Although she smoked a great Deal drank a great Deal and had a very deep voice Lillian was incredibly feminine. Her soul was a very feminine soul and rather old fashioned. She paid attention to her dress especially her hair shoes and nails. Lillian was a very elegant Southern  Caldwell grew up in Australia the daughter of a plumber. As a Young woman her Mother dabbled in Gilbert and Sullivan and toured India China and Japan. When i was growing up in Melbourne other kids went to the movies she says we always went to the theater. We saw  by the time she was 11, Caldwell had settled on a professional acting career and her parents were supportive. A scholarship took her to England and a succession of shakespearean roles. She travelled to Canada for parts at the Stratford Shakespeare festival and later to the United states Lor regional theater work at the Guthrie in Minneapolis and the Goodman in Chicago. I was always afraid of growing comfortable so i would jump from Job to Job whatever i was offered she says. I would go from Stratford on Avon to a Small repertory company and Back to London. It did t matter until i met Robert and had the boys and the dogs and All that suburban lady  that happened in 1968. She married Whitehead while appearing in the prime of miss Jean Brodie. Which brought her the second of her three Tony awards. Her first was in 1966 for a role in an unsuccessful Tennessee Williams drama slapstick tragedy. The third was three years ago for her portrayal of medea. Now she s Content to accept Only roles that offer a particular Challenge. If she thinks of i can do that she does t want to do them. At 361 had my first son and then at 39, my second. That seemed to me so much More challenging than acting says the 52-year-old Caldwell. I always knew i would be an actor. I am an actor. But being a wife and Mother still seems to me to be some kind of extraordinary