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Carole Shelley (born 16 August 1939) is an English actress. Among her many stage roles are the character of Madame Morrible in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wicked. Shelley was born in London, England, the daughter of Deborah (née Bloomstein), a singer, and Curtis Shelley, a composer. On stage, Shelley made her Broadway debut in the original 1965 production of The Odd Couple, playing Gwendolyn Pigeon. (She would reprise the role for the film version and for the first season of the subsequent television series.) She appeared in several plays throughout the 1970s and 1980s, was... MORE

Carole Shelley (born 16 August 1939) is an English actress. Among her many stage roles are the character of Madame Morrible in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wicked. Shelley was born in London, England, the daughter of Deborah (née Bloomstein), a singer, and Curtis Shelley, a composer. On stage, Shelley made her Broadway debut in the original 1965 production of The Odd Couple, playing Gwendolyn Pigeon. (She would reprise the role for the film version and for the first season of the subsequent television series.) She appeared in several plays throughout the 1970s and 1980s, was acclaimed as Rosalind in As You Like It at the 1972 Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, and earned her first Tony Award nomination in 1975 for her performance as "Jane" in Absurd Person Singular. Shelley won the 1979 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as Mrs. Kendal in The Elephant Man, and was nominated again in 1987 for her performance in Stepping Out as "Maxine." In 1982 she won an Obie Award in 1982 for her performance Twelve Dreams. Shelley also began appearing in musicals in the late 1990s, with the revivals of Show Boat and Cabaret. In 2003, Shelley created the role of LESS