Eva Marie Saint dies at the age of 102: the Oscar-winning actress whose luminous screen debut in On the Waterfront made her an instant star has died at her home in Los Angeles, her family representative confirmed on Tuesday.
Saint, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, enjoyed a career spanning more than seven decades, appearing in over 160 productions opposite some of cinema’s greatest names.
FAKTA
- Died: Tuesday, at her home in Los Angeles, aged 102 — confirmed by family representative Jeff Sanderson
- Born: 4 July 1924 in Newark, New Jersey
- Breakthrough: On the Waterfront (1954) — Edie Doyle, opposite Marlon Brando; Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on her first film
- Iconic role: Eve Kendall in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959), opposite Cary Grant
- Legacy: one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age; a career of more than 70 years and 161 productions
A debut for the ages
Saint had one of the most spectacular debuts in Hollywood history. As Edie Doyle, the love interest of Marlon Brando’s tormented dockworker Terry Malloy in Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress — on her very first film.
Her first trip to the Academy Awards was memorable: pregnant with her first child, she accepted the Oscar from Frank Sinatra and murmured a winner’s speech for the ages: “I think I may have the baby right here.” Her son, Darrell, was born two days later.
Choosing her own path
The award made her an instant star, but Saint astonished Hollywood with a fierce independence that would mark her career. She refused studio contracts and declined major follow-up roles — including The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Summer and Smoke and The Rainmaker — choosing instead to take time off to get acquainted with her newborn son. A daughter, Laurette, was born in 1958.
North by Northwest and beyond
In her first decade in Hollywood, Saint appeared in only seven films. She credited her husband, television and stage director Jeffrey Hayden — whom she married in 1951 — with convincing her to take the role that became her other signature: the cool, enigmatic spy Eve Kendall in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 classic North by Northwest, opposite Cary Grant.
Over a career of more than 70 years she worked with directors including Elia Kazan, Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Fred Zinnemann, and co-starred with Paul Newman, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. She continued acting well into her 90s.
Eva Marie Saint: a luminous legacy
With Saint’s death, Hollywood loses one of the last living links to its Golden Age. Across more than seven decades she earned two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an Emmy to go with her Oscar, and a reputation for choosing her roles — and her life — on her own terms.
She is survived by her son Darrell and daughter Laurette.
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