LOS ANGELES (AP) – Eva Marie Saint, the pale, slender actress who won an Academy Award for her debut film “On the Waterfront” and starred opposite Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller “North by Northwest,” has died. He was 102 years old.
Family representative Jeff Sanderson confirmed that Saint, who continued his acting work into his 90s, died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
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As the love interest of Marlon Brando’s tormented Terry Malloy in “On the Waterfront,” Saint had one of the greatest debuts in Hollywood history, and her first trip to the Academy Awards was also unforgettable. Pregnant with her first child, Saint received her Oscar from Frank Sinatra and smilingly muttered a unique winning speech: “I think I can have the baby here.” (His son Darrell was born two days later).
The hit for the 1954 classic made her an instant star, but she stunned Hollywood with the rugged independence that would soon mark her career. Explaining that he was taking time off to meet his new son, he rejected offers of studio contracts and the chance to continue his great success. (A daughter named Laurette was born in 1958).
A career in curating
Saint appeared in only seven films during his first decade in Hollywood. She turned down high-profile productions such as “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit” with Peck, “Summer and Smoke” with Laurence Harvey, and “The Rainmaker” with Burt Lancaster. She credited her husband, TV and stage director Jeffrey Hayden, with convincing her to star in Hitchcock’s classic 1959 thriller “North by Northwest,” in which Saint plays a spy who seduces Grant but eventually falls in love with him.
“I distinctly remember him saying, ‘Honey, I think you should find a quiet place. I’m going to take care of the kids, and I want you to really think about it and re-read this script,'” she told Vanity Fair in 2014.
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Rather than being put off by her pickiness, studios continued to offer her starring roles in films such as “Exodus” (with Newman), “Raintree County” (Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift) and “All Fall Down” with Warren Beatty.
She turned more to television in the 1970s and regained popularity in the 1980s with her roles as Cybill Shepherd’s mother in the popular sitcom “Moonlighting” and Tom Hanks’ mother in the comedy “Nothing in Common.” He won an Emmy in 1990 for the miniseries “People Like Us” and starred in 21st-century films such as “Because of Winn-Dixie,” “Superman Returns” and “The Winter’s Tale,” based on Mark Helprin’s novel of the same name. In 2021, she played Marisa Tomei’s aunt in the short audio play “The Bus Ride”, which was part of “The Pack Podcast”.
Saint was married to Hayden for 55 years until his death in 2016.
That was his real name
When Eva Marie Saint emerged into the public consciousness, many believed that her theatrical-sounding name must have been invented. He was born with the disease on July 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey. The family said his father owned Goodrich Rubber Co. He moved to Delmar, a small town near Albany, New York, where he became manager. Eva’s goal was to become a third-grade teacher like her mother, but she tried out for a play at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and won the lead role.
After graduation, he lived with his family in Flushing, Long Island, and began looking for acting jobs in Manhattan. After an unproductive year, she landed a two-line role as a telephone operator on a radio drama and soon began working steadily on soap operas and late-night soap operas, appearing as Claudia on “One Man’s Family” for two years. Network television was growing rapidly in the early 1950s, and his looks and sense of the dramatic made him a favorite of the cast and producers.
He credited Lee Strasberg with helping him overcome his shyness.
A critical turning point in Saint’s career came when he auditioned for Elia Kazan and was accepted into the Actors Studio, which shaped a generation of method actor stars. He credited acting coach Lee Strasberg with helping him overcome his shyness.
“When Lee Strasberg got to know me a little bit, he gave me a scene where I had to cry in front of my peers,” she told The Santa Barbara Independent in 2009. “I worried about it, worked on it, tried to use what I learned in the studio. Finally, I did the scene and I cried, and my peers were crying with me. It was an incredible moment for me.”
Saint was rejected for her only female role in the play “Mister Roberts” but was hired to be the supporting work of the chosen actor, Marlon’s sister, Jocelyn Brando. For six frustrating months, Saint was never able to replace Brando. He eventually made it to Broadway with his television role in “A Trip to Bountiful.”
Kazan improvised a scene with Brando, inviting him to try out for the female lead in “On the Waterfront.” He was told to try to stop a young man from entering his apartment. “All I know is Marlon walked in the door and turned up the music. We started dancing. He patted my skirt. Kazan saw sparks fly and that’s how I got the part,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2001.
Thomas, a former Associated Press Hollywood reporter who died in 2014, was the lead author of this obituary.