Eva Marie Saint, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress whose career spanned over seven decades across film, television, and stage, died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 102. Her representative confirmed she passed away of natural causes surrounded by family and loved ones.
From On the Waterfront to North by Northwest
Born on July 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey, Saint grew up near Albany, New York, and studied acting at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She made her feature film debut in 1954 under the direction of Elia Kazan in On the Waterfront
, playing Edie Doyle opposite Marlon Brando. The role earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Reflecting on her Oscar win years later, Saint recalled that she was heavily pregnant with her son, Darrell, at the ceremony. Jeff had his thumb on my thigh; I couldn’t get up,
she shared in a 2010 interview about the moment the Hollywood Reporter and other outlets covered. So I slowly walked up and said something like, ‘I’m so excited I might have the baby right here.’
She ultimately gave birth two days after accepting her award.
The film took home eight Oscars out of twelve total nominations, with Marlon Brando also winning an Academy Award for his performance as prize fighter Terry Malloy. Saint continued building a diverse resume that included stage productions and television appearances. In 1953, she appeared in the Horton Foote play The Trip to Bountiful on Broadway, earning the 1954 Outer Critics Circle Special Award as well as Drama Critics Award and Outer-Circle Critics Award honors.
By 1957, her role in A Hatful of Rain ushered in a five-year, five-picture streak. Alfred Hitchcock cast her as government agent Eve Kendall in the spy thriller North by Northwest, starring alongside Cary Grant. The film ranked No. 40 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time. In the 1950s, she also earned Emmy nominations for her roles in Middle of the Night and a television musical version of Our Town, which featured Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman.
Saint Prioritizes Family over Superstardom and Moves to Television
Film critic Leonard Maltin wrote in his Movie Encyclopedia that she found few vehicles worthy of her talents,
but Saint offered a personal reason for her trajectory.
I was having children, I was turning things down and my agent said, ‘Eva Marie, you’ll never be a superstar’ and I said, ‘I don’t want to be a superstar,’
she recounted. When feature film roles slowed down, she transitioned to the small screen, noting in a 1990 interview that as she got older there were not many roles available, leading her to successfully segue into television work.
Her television credits included guest spots on Moonlighting as Cybill Shepherd’s mother, roles in the miniseries How the West Was Won
and Taxi!!!, and voicing Katara on Nickelodeon’s animated series The Legend of Korra
. She also appeared in Fatal Vision, A Year in the Life, My Antonia, and the Titanic miniseries, eventually winning her first competitive Emmy Award in 1990 for her performance in the miniseries People Like Us.
Returning to the Screen
Saint returned to feature films as a link to Hollywood’s golden era, appearing in Nothing in Common
(1986) with Tom Hanks, Superman Returns
(2006) as Martha Kent, and Akiva Goldsman’s romantic fantasy Winter’s Tale (2014). Her later film credits also included Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), Don’t Come Knocking (2005), and I Dreamed of Africa (2000).
At age 93, she made an appearance at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018 to present the Oscar for Best Costume Design. Greeted by an audience, she delivered a speech that touched on her long marriage to television director and producer Jeffrey Hayden, who died in December 2016 after 65 years of marriage.
That means so much to me, having lost my husband last year after 65 years. We would come to this Academy every year, and I miss him, and that made up for it. It was so loud I know he heard it. And I just realized something. I’m older than the Academy. Plus four months, maybe five. I’m very proud of that. Just keep moving.
Saint is survived by her two children, Darrell and Laurette; four grandchildren, Eli, Tyler, Molly, and Stella; and two great-grandchildren, Arlo and Finley.