Eva Marie Saint, ‘North by Northwest’ Star, Dies at 102

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.

The delicate, fine-boned actress, one of the first breakout talents from early television, won her Academy Award as best supporting actress for “On the Waterfront” in 1955, making her the oldest living Oscar winner. She played Edie Doyle in the Marlon Brando starring film, with the New York Times writing in its review, “Amid scenes of carnage, she gives tenderness and sensitivity to genuine romance.”

As Saint raised her family from the late 1950s on, she returned to acting intermittently, and many of her later appearances were onstage and on television, most notably in the ABC series “Moonlighting” and later as Clark Kent’s adoptive mother in the 2006 movie “Superman Returns.”

One of her most memorable roles was as the cool but seductive 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 an appreciation on her 97th birthday.

“Saint’s character is fully capable of pulling the wool over the eyes of sinister villains and usually remains two or three steps ahead of Grant’s hapless Madison Avenue executive Roger Thornhill,” the appreciation continues.

Saint made her TV debut on “Camp Hoop La,” then became a regular on “One Man’s Family.” She broadened her dramatic range in such anthology series as “Philco Playhouse,” “Robert Montgomery Presents” and “Studio One.” Highlights during the period included Paddy Chayevsky’s “Middle of the Night” (1954) and a musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” (1955) co-starring Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra (both shows brought her Emmy nominations); Sidney Howard’s “Yellow Jack”; and the drama “Claudia.”

Saint appeared opposite Lillian Gish in 1953 Horton Foote teleplay “The Trip to Bountiful,” which became the first TV drama to move to Broadway (for 39 performances). Her “touching and beautifully sensitive performance,” as one New York critic described it, won the approbation of Elia Kazan, who cast her opposite Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront” in a role coveted by many more experienced actresses.

The 1954 Budd Schulberg drama was nominated for 12 Oscars and won eight including best picture, actor, director and, for Saint, supporting actress.

Rather than tie herself to a studio contract, however, she returned to the theater in stock productions of “The Rainmaker” and “Desire Under the Elms.”

In 1956 she took on the glamorous female lead in “That Certain Feeling” opposite 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 co-starring Warren Beatty, saw her give one of her best dramatic performances.

She was the numinous but scorned wife in 1965’s Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton adultery tale “The Sandpiper” and then appeared in a better vehicle, Norman Jewison’s comedy “The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming,” in 1966. “The Stalking Moon” (1969), opposite Gregory Peck, was a disappointment, but her performance in “Loving,” co-starring with George Segal, was highly regarded and rated with her best work. Other roles include “36 Hours” and “Grand Prix.” Except for another Hope comedy, “Cancel My Reservation,” she spent most of the next two decades on TV and onstage.

On Broadway she acted 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 miniseries “How the West Was Won.” The latter two roles also brought Emmy nominations.

Saint received good critical notices 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 bigscreen with a role in the Tom Hanks-Jackie Gleason vehicle “Nothing in Common.”

Saint appeared in many TV movies throughout the 1990s, including roles in “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Kiss of a Killer,” “After Jimmy” and “Open House,” along with a cameo as Roz’s mother in “Frasier.” After four previous Emmy nominations, Saint finally took the statuette with a supporting actress Emmy win in 1990 for her role in the NBC miniseries “People Like Us.”

Saint returned to film again in the 2000s, appearing in pics such as “I Dreamed of Africa” (2000), “Because of Winn-Dixie” and “Don’t Come Knocking” (2005) and 2006’s “Superman Returns,” in which she played Martha Kent. In 2014 she made her final bigscreen appearance, in the Akiva Goldsman written and directed “Winter’s Tale.”

Saint was born in Newark, N.J.; the family later moved to Delmar, N.Y., near Albany. With plans to become a teacher, Saint attended Ohio’s Bowling Green State U., where she became interested in acting. After receiving her B.A., she turned full time to seeking acting work, first in radio. She received her first paycheck, $10, as an off-camera applauder on “The Borden Show.” To make ends meet, she did some modeling and then landed roles in radio serials such as “Rosemary” and “Young Doctor Malone.”

In 1947 she was cast in “Mister Roberts” only to be reduced to an 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 her ability to straddle both the film and television world, Saint has two separate stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and one for TV. Saint took time to pay homage to “North by Northwest” by hosting 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 “Waterfront” win.

Her husband, TV 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.