Eva Marie Saint, the Oscar-winning actor from “On the Waterfront” and the female lead of Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 102. Family representative Jeff Sanderson confirmed her death, the Associated Press reported. CNN reported that she died of natural causes surrounded by family.
Eva Marie Saint’s Oscar for “On the Waterfront”
Saint made her feature film debut in “On the Waterfront,” director Elia Kazan’s 1954 drama opposite Marlon Brando. She played Edie Doyle and won the Academy Award for best supporting actress at the 1955 ceremony. The film won eight Oscars, including best picture, according to her Wikipedia biography.
The AP wrote that Saint was pregnant when Frank Sinatra handed her the statuette, and that she opened her speech by saying she might “have the baby right here.” Her son was born two days later. The part paid her $7,500, per Wikipedia. Her next two studio pictures paid more. She received
$50,000 for 1956’s “That Certain Feeling” with Bob Hope and $100,000 for 1957’s “Raintree County” with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, the same entry says. Her pay rose thirteenfold in three years. Saint told Premiere magazine in 2000 that Kazan set up her first scene with Brando by telling her to keep him out of her room, and that Brando kept her off balance for the whole shoot, according to Wikipedia’s account of the interview.
Eva Marie Saint in “North by Northwest”
Hitchcock cast Saint as Eve Kendall opposite Cary Grant in the 1959 thriller. She played a spy who seduces Grant’s character and then falls for him, the AP said. Her husband, the director Jeffrey Hayden, persuaded her to take the role, Fox 35 Orlando reported.
Wikipedia says Hitchcock lowered and deepened her speaking voice and picked her clothes on a shopping trip to Bergdorf Goodman in New York. CNN quoted Saint recalling his direction for her scenes with Grant: “Look directly into his eyes, which was not difficult.” The American Film Institute ranks the movie No. 40 on its list of the 100 greatest American films, per Wikipedia.
How Long Saint Worked in Film and Television
The AP said her acting lasted well into her 90s. It said that in 2021 she played Marisa Tomei’s aunt in “The Bus Ride,” a short audio play in “The Pack Podcast.” AP reported the credit as one of her last. Her first recorded appearance came 75 years earlier. Wikipedia says she appeared on NBC’s “Campus Hoopla” in 1946 and 1947 while working as a network page, and that the Library of Congress holds kinescopes of those performances. A 1946 start and a 2021 finish put her working life at 75 years. She lived to see 71 years pass after her Oscar.
Her television work was substantial. She earned Emmy nominations in 1955 for the “Philco Television Playhouse” production of “Middle of the Night” and for a musical version of “Our Town” with Paul Newman and Sinatra, according to Wikipedia. She received more nominations in 1977 for “How the West Was Won” and in 1978 for “Taxi!!!” Her Emmy came in 1990 for the miniseries “People Like Us.”
She also took a long break from features. The AP said she made only seven films in her first decade in Hollywood and chose her roles with her children in mind. Fox 35 reported the same selectivity. She returned to a lead feature role in 1986 as Tom Hanks’s mother in “Nothing in Common,” and she later played Martha Kent in 2006’s “Superman Returns.”
Eva Marie Saint’s Later ilm Roles and Black Co-Stars
Her late film work put her alongside several Black actors. Wikipedia lists “Because of WinnDixie” in 2005 with Cicely Tyson, and her voice work as the elder Katara on the Nickelodeon series “The Legend of Korra” from 2012 to 2014. The same entry says she presented the costume design award at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018, at 93, and received a standing ovation. She received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, one for film and one for television, per Wikipedia.
Early Life and marriage
Saint was born July 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in Albany and Delmar, New York, Fox 35 reported. She studied at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Wikipedia says the school named a campus theater for her. Reports differ on the length of her marriage. The AP said she was married to Hayden for 55 years until his death in 2016. CNN reported 65 years. Wikipedia gives the wedding date as Oct. 28, 1951, which makes the span from 1951 to 2016 equal to 65 years. CNN also reported the couple met on a New York subway. Saint is survived by her two children, four grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren.
