Eva Marie Saint, Oscar Winner for ‘On the Waterfront,’ Dies at 102
In short
Eva Marie Saint, the Academy Award-winning actor who made her film debut opposite Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront” and starred with Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 102. Her publicist, Jeff Sanderson, said she died of natural causes surrounded by family and loved ones.
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Eva Marie Saint, the Academy Award-winning actor who made her film debut opposite Marlon Brando in “On the Waterfront” and starred with Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 102. Her publicist, Jeff Sanderson, said she died of natural causes and was surrounded by family and loved ones. [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 ]
Saint won the best supporting actress Oscar for her first film, Elia Kazan’s “On the Waterfront” (1954), playing Edie Doyle, the sister of a murdered longshoreman who becomes involved with Brando’s dockworker Terry Malloy. CBS News and ABC News reported that she was pregnant when she accepted the award, and quoted her telling the audience she might have the baby right there; her son, Darrell, was born two days later. Five years later she played Eve Kendall, the double agent who woos Grant, in Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” a role ABC News and the Boston Globe say her husband, the director Jeffrey Hayden, urged her to take. [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 10 ]
Saint was born in Newark, New Jersey, on July 4, 1924, according to NBC News, began acting as a student at Bowling Green State University and studied at New York’s Actors Studio with Kazan and Lee Strasberg. NBC News said her career spanned more than seven decades and 20 feature films, and that she also worked extensively in television, winning an Emmy for the 1990 miniseries “People Like Us”; CNN and NBC News noted her appearance as Clark Kent’s adoptive mother in “Superman Returns” in 2006. [ 3 , 5 ]
Outlets emphasised her decision to work selectively. CBS News quoted her 2014 account of telling an agent she could make only one film a year because she had young children, and of firing him after he said she would not become a superstar. ABC News and the Boston Globe reported that she refused studio contracts and declined several high-profile productions, appearing in seven films in her first decade in Hollywood, and that she married Hayden in 1951 and remained with him until his death in 2016; their daughter, Laurette, was born in 1958. [ 2 , 7 , 8 ]
The accounts agree on the circumstances of her death but not on every detail. The documents do not give a time of death. CBS News quotes her Oscar-night remark as “I may have the baby right here!” while ABC News and the Boston Globe give it as “I think I may have the baby right here.” The New York Times and Reuters published obituaries; Reuters and the Associated Press supplied only titles in the material available. [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]
Why it matters
Saint was among the last surviving stars of the studio era, and her death is being marked by major US national outlets with full obituaries. The coverage is a record of a film career that spanned more than seven decades and of her choice to limit her output, which the outlets treat as a defining feature of her career. The documents describe no consequences beyond the film industry and her audience.
Key facts
- Eva Marie Saint died on Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 102. [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 ]
- Her publicist, Jeff Sanderson, attributed the death to natural causes and said she was surrounded by family and loved ones. [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 ]
- She won an Academy Award for her first film, Elia Kazan’s “On the Waterfront” (1954), playing Edie Doyle opposite Marlon Brando. [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 10 ]
- She played Eve Kendall opposite Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” (1959). [ 1 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 ]
- She was born in Newark, New Jersey, on July 4, 1924, began acting at Bowling Green State University and studied at the Actors Studio in New York. [ 3 , 5 ]
- She married director-producer Jeffrey Hayden in 1951; the couple had two children, Darrell and Laurette, and stayed together until his death in 2016. [ 2 , 7 , 8 ]
- She worked in television as well as film, winning an Emmy for the 1990 miniseries “People Like Us,” and appeared as Clark Kent’s adoptive mother in “Superman Returns” (2006). [ 3 , 5 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Saint died at 102 at her home in Los Angeles. [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 ]
- Her publicist, Jeff Sanderson, said the cause was natural causes and that she was surrounded by family and loved ones. [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 ]
- She won an Academy Award for her film debut in “On the Waterfront” (1954). [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 10 ]
- She starred opposite Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest.” [ 1 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 ]
- Her son Darrell was born two days after she accepted her Oscar while pregnant. [ 2 , 7 , 8 ]
Still unclear
- The exact time of death was not given. The documents say only that she died Tuesday and give the publication times of the reports, not the time of death.
- Outlets quote her Oscar-night remark differently: CBS News has “I may have the baby right here!”, while ABC News and the Boston Globe have “I think I may have the baby right here.” The wording of the same quotation differs between outlets.
- Descriptions of her film output vary in scope rather than conflict: NBC News says she appeared in 20 feature films, while ABC News says she appeared in seven films in her first decade in Hollywood. The two figures cover different periods; the documents give no total for her whole career.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- The New York Times publishes an obituary describing Saint as an Oscar winner for “On the Waterfront” and noting her role opposite Cary Grant in “North by Northwest.” [ 1 ]
- CBS News reports her death at 102 and quotes publicist Jeff Sanderson saying she died of natural causes at her Los Angeles home, surrounded by family and loved ones. [ 2 ]
- NBC News reports the death, noting her Oscar and Emmy wins and her career of more than seven decades. [ 3 ]
- CNN reports the death and her Oscar for her film debut in “On the Waterfront,” recalling her 2014 account of working with Hitchcock. [ 5 ]
- ABC News reports the death, recalling her Oscar-night remark while pregnant and her decision to refuse studio contracts. [ 7 ]
- NPR reports the death, highlighting her Oscar-winning portrayal of Edie in “On the Waterfront.” [ 10 ]