Oscar-winning actress Eva Marie Saint, who starred in such memorable classic films as “On the Waterfront” and “North by Northwest,” died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 102 years old.
The delicate and fine actress, one of the first breakout talents of early television, won her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for “On the Waterfront” in 1955, making her the oldest living Oscar winner. She played Edie Doyle in the film starring Marlon Brando, with the New York Times writing in its review: “Amid scenes of carnage, she gives tenderness and sensitivity to true romance.” »
As Saint raised her family beginning in the late 1950s, she began acting intermittently again, and many of her subsequent appearances were on stage and television, including in the ABC series “Moonlighting” and later as Clark Kent’s adoptive mother in the 2006 film “Superman Returns.”
One of her most memorable roles was as the cool but attractive blonde spy in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 spy thriller, “North by Northwest.” “Not only does she provide the requisite icy sex appeal as Eve Kendall, a shadowy secret agent, but she also proves to be much more than a standard damsel in distress,” Variety ” wrote in a message of appreciation on his 97th birthday.
“Saint’s character is quite capable of outwitting sinister villains and generally stays two or three steps ahead of Grant’s hapless Madison Avenue executive, Roger Thornhill,” the review continues.
Saint made her television debut on “Camp Hoop La,” then became a regular on “One Man’s Family.” She expanded her dramatic range in anthology series such as “Philco Playhouse,” “Robert Montgomery Presents” and “Studio One.” Highlights of the period included Paddy Chayevsky’s “Middle of the Night” (1954) and a musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” (1955) starring Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra (both shows earned Emmy nominations); “Yellow Jack” by Sidney Howard; and the drama “Claudia”.
Saint appeared alongside Lillian Gish in Horton Foote’s 1953 telecast, “The Trip to Bountiful,” which became the first television series to run on Broadway (for 39 performances). Her “touching, beautifully sensitive performance,” as one New York critic described it, won the approval of Elia Kazan, who cast her opposite Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront” in a role coveted by many more experienced actresses.
Budd Schulberg’s 1954 drama was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won eight, including best picture, actor, director and, for Saint, supporting actress.
Rather than tie herself to a studio contract, she returned to theater in basic productions of “The Rainmaker” and “Desire Under the Elms.”
In 1956, she played the glamorous female lead in “That Certain Feeling” alongside Bob Hope, followed by the 1957 film version of “A Hatful of Rain” and “Raintree County.”
After “North by Northwest”, she appeared in “Exodus” and “All Fall Down”. The latter, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Warren Beatty, sees her give one of her best dramatic performances.
She was the famous but scorned wife in the 1965 Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton adultery tale “The Sandpiper,” then appeared in a better vehicle, the Norman Jewison comedy “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” in 1966. Her performance in “Loving,” with George Segal, was highly praised and ranked among her best works. Other roles include “36 Hours” and “Grand Prix”. With the exception of another Hope comedy, “Cancel My Reservation,” she spent most of the next two decades on television and on stage.
On Broadway, she starred in “The Lincoln Mask” in 1972 and then, opposite Henry Fonda, in “The First Monday in October” in 1979. In 1983, she appeared in a Chicago production of “Duet for One.” Her television credits include “School for Bachelors,” “A Carol for Another Christmas,” “‘The First Woman President,” “Mrs. Epenshade,” “Taxi” and the miniseries “How the West Was Won.” The latter two roles also earned him Emmy nominations.
Saint received good reviews for “A Christmas to Remember” with Jason Robards, “When Hell Was in Session”, “The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb”, “The Best Little Girl in the World”, “Malibu”, “My Antonia” and “Jane Doe”, among other roles.
The actress had a recurring role on the ABC series “Moonlighting,” starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis, as Shepherd’s mother.
In 1986, she returned to the big screen with a role in the Tom Hanks-Jackie Gleason film “Nothing in Common.”
Saint appeared in numerous television films throughout the 1990s, including roles in “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, “Kiss of a Killer”, “After Jimmy” and “Open House”, as well as an appearance as Roz’s mother in “Frasier”. After four previous Emmy nominations, Saint finally won the statuette with a supporting actress, winning an Emmy in 1990 for her role in the NBC miniseries “People Like Us.”
Saint returned to acting in the 2000s, appearing in such pictures as “I Dreamed of Africa” (2000), “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “Don’t Come Knocking” (2005) and “Superman Returns” in 2006, in which she played Martha Kent. In 2014, she made her final appearance on the big screen, in Akiva Goldsman’s written and directed “Winter’s Tale.”
Saint was born in Newark, New Jersey; the family later moved to Delmar, New York, near Albany. Intending to become a teacher, Saint attended Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where she became interested in acting. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she turned to acting full-time, initially in radio. She received her first paycheck, $10, as an off-camera clapper on “The Borden Show.” To make ends meet, she did some modeling, then landed roles on radio series such as “Rosemary” and “Young Doctor Malone.”
In 1947, she was cast in “Mister Roberts,” but was reduced to understudy when director Joshua Logan didn’t think she had enough experience. Jocelyn Brando played the roles. A year later, she began studying at the Actors Studio.
A testament to his ability to straddle both the world of film and television, Saint has two separate stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for film and one for television. Saint took the time to pay tribute to “North by Northwest” by hosting the TCM documentary “The Making of North by Northwest” in 2000.
She also appeared in the 2003 documentary “Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There” and the 2011 docu “Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age.”
Saint appeared at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009 to present the Oscar for Supporting Actress, some 55 years after her win in “Waterfront.”
She was a long-time supporter of the Motion Picture and Television Fund and the Epilepsy Foundation of Los Angeles. An early proponent of making cars cellphone-free, she created and distributed her own bumper sticker: “Get off the phone or get off the road.” She also served on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship committee.
Her husband, television director Jeffrey Hayden, died in 2016.
Survivors include her two children, Darrell and Laurette, four grandchildren, Eli, Tyler, Molly and Stella and two great-grandchildren, Arlo and Finley.
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