In Memoriam: Legendary Hollywood Actress "Eva Marie Saint" Dies Aged 102

 

Eva Marie Saint, one of the last survivors of Hollywood's golden age of the 1940s and 50s, has died aged 102. Her screen work spanned six decades: Saint made her screen debut opposite Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, starred in Alfred Hitchcock's celebrated thriller North by Northwest, and in one of her last screen appearances played Superman's adoptive mother Martha Kent in the 2006 superhero film Superman Returns.

A family spokesman said on Tuesday that Saint had died of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles.

Her remarkable Hollywood story began with the kind of debut most actors could only dream about. Saint entered feature films opposite Marlon Brando in the 1954 drama “On the Waterfront,” playing Edie Doyle in director Elia Kazan’s acclaimed story of corruption and conscience on the New York docks. The performance immediately established Saint as a major talent. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, beginning a film career that would place her alongside some of the biggest actors and directors of her generation.

Another defining role arrived in 1959 when Alfred Hitchcock cast her opposite Cary Grant in "North by Northwest." As the elegant and enigmatic Eve Kendall, Saint showed a dramatically different side of her screen persona and became part of one of Hitchcock’s most enduring thrillers. Her career continued with appearances in films including "Exodus," "Grand Prix," "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" and "The Stalking Moon."

Saint never allowed the demands of Hollywood to completely dictate her life. At a time when successful performers were often expected to capitalize relentlessly on their fame, she was willing to turn down opportunities and make room for her family.

Besides Movies; Television became another important part of her career. She appeared in numerous productions over the decades, including a recurring role on "Moonlighting," and won an Emmy for her performance in the 1990 miniseries "People Like Us."

Later generations of moviegoers also had opportunities to discover her. Saint appeared in "Because of Winn-Dixie" and played Martha Kent, Superman's adoptive mother, in the 2006 film "Superman Returns." She returned to the big screen again in 2014's "Winter's Tale."

Born in 1924 in New Jersey to a Quaker family, Saint had an early career as a jobbing radio and TV performer that was chronicled in a 1949 feature in Life magazine which started with the prophetic words: "The name of Eva Marie Saint may someday be a household word" – it followed her struggles to gain a foothold in the entertainment industry. By the early 50s she was making some headway, appearing in 1953 in both the original telecast and the premiere Broadway production of the Horton Foote play The Trip to Bountiful.

Saint was also part of a generation that witnessed Hollywood transform around her. She moved from the era of live television and black-and-white classics into modern studio filmmaking without losing the understated quality that had made her performances distinctive in the first place.

Her marriage to television director Jeffrey Hayden lasted more than six decades, until his death in 2016. With Saint's death, Hollywood loses one of its remaining direct connections to a landmark period in American cinema. 

For an actress who never appeared particularly interested in chasing the machinery of superstardom, Eva Marie Saint achieved something considerably more durable: a place in movie history.