# Eva Marie Saint
**Eva Marie Saint** (July 4, 1924 – October 6, 2026) was an American actress whose career in film, television, theater, and radio spanned roughly seven decades. She won the [Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-supporting-actress) for her first film, *On the Waterfront* (1954), and played the spy Eve Kendall opposite [Cary Grant](https://www.edgepedia.org/cary-grant) in [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-hitchcock)'s *North by Northwest* (1959).[1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/021917/star-of-the-month-eva-marie-saint) She later won a Primetime Emmy Award for the 1990 miniseries *People Like Us* and, in one of her last major screen roles, played Superman's adoptive mother Martha Kent in *Superman Returns* (2006).[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/eva-marie-saint) • [4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oct/06/eva-marie-saint-star-of-north-by-northwest-and-on-the-waterfront-dies-aged)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | July 4, 1924, Newark, New Jersey; October 6, 2026, at her home in Los Angeles, aged 102, of natural causes[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/021917/star-of-the-month-eva-marie-saint) • [1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200) |
| Signature roles | Edie Doyle in *On the Waterfront* (1954) and Eve Kendall in *North by Northwest* (1959)[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/eva-marie-saint) |
| Academy Award | Best Supporting Actress for *On the Waterfront*, her film debut, at the 1955 ceremony; she accepted while nine months pregnant[5](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1955) • [1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200) |
| Emmy record | One win from five nominations: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special for *People Like Us* (1990)[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/eva-marie-saint) |
| Film output | About 20 to 21 feature films from 1954 onward, alongside steady television work from the 1970s[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/021917/star-of-the-month-eva-marie-saint) |
| Marriage | Married director and producer Jeffrey Hayden in 1951; the marriage lasted 65 years, until his death in 2016[7](https://www.ksl.com/article/51633185/eva-marie-saint-oscar-winning-film-star-of-on-the-waterfront-dead-at-102) |
| Alma mater | Bowling Green State University, class of 1946; the campus theater bears her name[8](https://www.bgsu.edu/news/2026/10/legendary-bgsu-alumna-hollywood-golden-age-actress-eva-marie-saint-dies-at-102.html) |
## Early life and education
Saint was born in [Newark, New Jersey](https://www.edgepedia.org/newark-new-jersey), on July 4, 1924, and grew up near [Albany, New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/albany-new-york), the younger of two daughters of John Merle Saint, a Quaker and an executive with the B.F. Goodrich Company, and the former Eva Marie Rice, a schoolteacher.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/021917/star-of-the-month-eva-marie-saint) • [6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront) At Bowling Green State University in Ohio she first trained as a teacher, then switched to drama after trying out for a college play on a dare from a friend.[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront) She was active on campus as a member of the Delta Gamma sorority, sophomore class president, and a member of the theater honorary fraternity Theta Alpha Phi.[8](https://www.bgsu.edu/news/2026/10/legendary-bgsu-alumna-hollywood-golden-age-actress-eva-marie-saint-dies-at-102.html)
After graduating in 1946 she returned to New York, worked as a page for NBC, and began her career as a radio and television actress.[8](https://www.bgsu.edu/news/2026/10/legendary-bgsu-alumna-hollywood-golden-age-actress-eva-marie-saint-dies-at-102.html) She took classes at the [Actors Studio](https://www.edgepedia.org/actors-studio) starting in 1948 and appeared in live television productions including *Actor's Studio*, *The Philco Television Playhouse*, *Studio One*, and *The General Electric Theater*.[8](https://www.bgsu.edu/news/2026/10/legendary-bgsu-alumna-hollywood-golden-age-actress-eva-marie-saint-dies-at-102.html) • [9](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/six-decades-sainthood) A 1949 profile in *Life* magazine opened with the words "The name of Eva Marie Saint may someday be a household word," chronicling her early struggle to find a foothold in the industry.[4](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oct/06/eva-marie-saint-star-of-north-by-northwest-and-on-the-waterfront-dies-aged)
## On the Waterfront and the Oscar
In late 1953 Saint was cast in her first Broadway play, Horton Foote's *The Trip to Bountiful*, co-starring [Lillian Gish](https://www.edgepedia.org/lillian-gish), who became her lifelong friend and mentor.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/021917/star-of-the-month-eva-marie-saint) Director Elia Kazan saw her stage performance and cast her as Edie Doyle in *On the Waterfront*, her feature film debut, opposite [Marlon Brando](https://www.edgepedia.org/marlon-brando)'s Terry Malloy.[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront) In the film, Edie is the sister of a longshoreman murdered for testifying against a corrupt union boss, and she becomes involved with Brando's dockworker character.[10](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eva-marie-saint-dies-age-102-on-the-waterfront/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab4i&intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3a)
The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Kazan, and Best Actor for Brando.[11](https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2026/10/remembering-eva-marie-saint-in-the-library-of-congress/) Saint won Best Supporting Actress at the ceremony on March 30, 1955.[5](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1955) Nine months pregnant, she accepted the statuette from [Frank Sinatra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-sinatra) with the line "I may have the baby right here"; her son Darrell was born two days later.[1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200) [CBS News](https://www.edgepedia.org/cbs-news) notes that she was only the fourth person to win a best supporting actress Oscar for a film debut.[10](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eva-marie-saint-dies-age-102-on-the-waterfront/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab4i&intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3a)
## North by Northwest and selective film career
Saint's next landmark role came in 1959, when Hitchcock cast her as Eve Kendall, the enigmatic spy who meets Cary Grant's character on a train in *North by Northwest*.[9](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/six-decades-sainthood) Hitchcock's direction to her was minimal: lower her voice, not use her hands, and, in her words, "look directly into Cary Grant's eyes all the time, which was not difficult."[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront) Her husband, the television and stage director [Jeffrey Hayden](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeffrey-hayden), is credited with persuading her to take the part after she reread the script.[1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200)
**A deliberately small filmography.** Saint refused studio contracts and turned down follow-up roles after her Oscar, taking time off after the birth of her son; a daughter, Laurette, was born in 1958.[1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200) In her first decade in Hollywood she appeared in only seven films, declining productions such as *The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit*, *Summer and Smoke*, and *The Rainmaker*, while studios continued to offer her starring parts.[1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200) Her agent told her, "Eva Marie, you'll never be a superstar," and she replied, "I don't want to be a superstar."[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront) Across her career she made about 20 films, working with directors and co-stars including [Otto Preminger](https://www.edgepedia.org/otto-preminger), Fred Zinnemann, Vincente Minnelli, and [John Frankenheimer](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-frankenheimer), and appearing opposite [Paul Newman](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-newman) in *Exodus* (1960), Yves Montand in *Grand Prix* (1966), and Gregory Peck in *The Stalking Moon* (1968).[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront) • [12](https://as.com/meristation/cine/la-leyenda-de-hollywood-que-cumple-102-anos-ha-ganado-1-oscar-y-tiene-2-estrellas-en-el-paseo-de-la-fama-es-la-ultima-de-la-epoca-de-oro-f202607-n/)
## Television and later work
When film roles thinned as she aged, Saint moved toward television. "As I got older, there weren't that many roles," she said in a 1990 interview. "I segued into TV and am perfectly happy."[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront) From the 1970s she worked steadily in television movies and miniseries, earning Emmy nominations for *How the West Was Won* (1977) and the two-character movie *Taxi!* (1978), and playing [Cybill Shepherd](https://www.edgepedia.org/cybill-shepherd)'s mother on the 1980s sitcom *Moonlighting*.[9](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/six-decades-sainthood) Her role as a wealthy, self-centered dowager in the 1990 miniseries *People Like Us* won her the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special, her fifth nomination.[3](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/eva-marie-saint) • [9](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/six-decades-sainthood)
She continued acting into her late career: *Because of Winn-Dixie* and *Don't Come Knocking* in 2005, Martha Kent in *Superman Returns* in 2006, and a cameo in *Winter's Tale* in 2014.[6](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront) In 2012 through 2014 she voiced the recurring character Katara on Nickelodeon's animated series *The Legend of Korra*.[9](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/six-decades-sainthood) Her work in both film and television is recognized with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[12](https://as.com/meristation/cine/la-leyenda-de-hollywood-que-cumple-102-anos-ha-ganado-1-oscar-y-tiene-2-estrellas-en-el-paseo-de-la-fama-es-la-ultima-de-la-epoca-de-oro-f202607-n/)
## Personal life
Saint met Jeffrey Hayden, a television, film, and theater director and producer, in New York; they married in 1951 and remained together for 65 years until his death in 2016.[7](https://www.ksl.com/article/51633185/eva-marie-saint-oscar-winning-film-star-of-on-the-waterfront-dead-at-102) They had a son, Darrell, and a daughter, Laurette.[1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200) With Hayden she produced the PBS documentaries *Primary Colors: The Story of Corita* and *Children in America's Schools with Bill Moyers*, winning an Emmy for the latter.[13](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/eva-marie-saint-dies-obit/)
She stayed connected to Bowling Green State University throughout her life. The university awarded her an honorary doctorate of performing arts in 1982 and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, and named the Eva Marie Saint Theatre in the Wolfe Centre for the Arts in her honor.[8](https://www.bgsu.edu/news/2026/10/legendary-bgsu-alumna-hollywood-golden-age-actress-eva-marie-saint-dies-at-102.html)
## Death and legacy
Saint died of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles on October 6, 2026, at the age of 102, according to her publicist Jeff Sanderson.[1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200) Her acting work lasted into her 90s.[1](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200) *On the Waterfront* was among the first 25 titles selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1989, and the Library marked her death as the passing of a link to an extraordinary period in American entertainment.[11](https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2026/10/remembering-eva-marie-saint-in-the-library-of-congress/) The British Film Institute, in its obituary, described a career defined less by celebrity than by craft and an abiding faith in the ensemble, noting that she was neither a character actress nor a supporting one but a top-billing lead in her prime.[14](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/eva-marie-saint-obituary-oscar-winning-star-waterfront-north-northwest)
## References
1. [Eva Marie Saint, star of 'North by Northwest' and 'On the Waterfront,' dies at 102, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/7019a82dbbac40b99a976354cbb89200)
2. [Star of the Month: Eva Marie Saint, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/021917/star-of-the-month-eva-marie-saint)
3. [Eva Marie Saint, Emmy Awards and Nominations, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/eva-marie-saint)
4. [Eva Marie Saint, star of North by Northwest and On the Waterfront, dies aged 102, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oct/06/eva-marie-saint-star-of-north-by-northwest-and-on-the-waterfront-dies-aged)
5. [The 27th Academy Awards, 1955, Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1955)
6. [Eva Marie Saint dead: 'North by Northwest,' 'On the Waterfront' star dies, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2026-10-06/eva-marie-saint-dead-north-by-northwest-on-the-waterfront)
7. [Eva Marie Saint, Oscar-winning film star of 'On the Waterfront,' dead at 102, KSL.com](https://www.ksl.com/article/51633185/eva-marie-saint-oscar-winning-film-star-of-on-the-waterfront-dead-at-102)
8. [Legendary BGSU alumna, Hollywood 'Golden Age' actress Eva Marie Saint '46 dies at 102, Bowling Green State University](https://www.bgsu.edu/news/2026/10/legendary-bgsu-alumna-hollywood-golden-age-actress-eva-marie-saint-dies-at-102.html)
9. [Six Decades of Sainthood, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/features/news/features/six-decades-sainthood)
10. [Eva Marie Saint, star of "On the Waterfront" and "North by Northwest," dies at age 102, CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eva-marie-saint-dies-age-102-on-the-waterfront/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab4i&intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3a)
11. [Remembering Eva Marie Saint in the Library of Congress, Now See Hear!](https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2026/10/remembering-eva-marie-saint-in-the-library-of-congress/)
12. [La leyenda de Hollywood que cumple 102 años, ha ganado 1 Oscar y tiene 2 estrellas en el Paseo de la Fama, AS](https://as.com/meristation/cine/la-leyenda-de-hollywood-que-cumple-102-anos-ha-ganado-1-oscar-y-tiene-2-estrellas-en-el-paseo-de-la-fama-es-la-ultima-de-la-epoca-de-oro-f202607-n/)
13. [Eva Marie Saint, 'On the Waterfront' Oscar Winner, Dies at 102, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/eva-marie-saint-dies-obit/)
14. [Eva Marie Saint obituary: Oscar-winning star of On the Waterfront and North by Northwest, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/eva-marie-saint-obituary-oscar-winning-star-waterfront-north-northwest)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames Q to St*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license