FILE - Actress Eva Marie Saint pictured seated on a sun lounger in a garden, USA, circa 1950. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Eva Marie Saint, the Oscar-winning actor known for her roles in "On the Waterfront" and "North by Northwest," has died. She was 102.
Saint died in her home of natural causes in Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday, Jeff Sanderson, the family’s representative, said.
She is survived by her two children, Darnell and Laurette, her four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Saint was married to husband, TV and stage director Jeffrey Hayden, until his death in 2016.
Eva Marie Saint’s acting career
The backstory:
After winning an Oscar for her role in "On the Waterfront," Saint continued to get offers for major roles, but was super selective about which projects to take on.
Instead of riding her wave of stardom and success, Saint had one major reason for not taking on every offer that came flooding her way – she wanted to concentrate on her kids.
In her first decade in Hollywood, Saint appeared in a mere seven films. She declined such top-level productions as "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" with Gregory Peck, "Summer and Smoke" with Laurence Harvey and "The Rainmaker" with Burt Lancaster.
She credited her husband with persuading her to star in Hitchcock’s "North by Northwest," the classic 1959 thriller in which Saint plays a spy who seduces Grant, but ends up falling for him.
Saint had many TV roles and found success throughout the 1970s and the 1980s.
She even won an Emmy for her role in the 1990 miniseries "People Like Us."
She continued her acting career well into the 21st century with roles in "Because of Winn-Dixie," "Superman Returns" and "Winter’s Tale," adapted from Mark Helprin’s novel of the same name.
In 2021, she played Marisa Tomei’s aunt in the brief audio play "The Bus Ride," part of "The Pack Podcast."
Eva Marie Saint’s life before stardom
Saint was born in Newark, New Jersey on July 4, 1924. She grew up in Albany and Delmar, New York, before heading off to Ohio for college.
She attended Bowling Green State University before she moved back to New York to work as an NBC page.
Saint snagged her first TV role on the game show "Campus Hoopla," according to People magazine.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from reporting by The Associated Press, Deadline and People magazine. This story was reported from San Jose.