Eva Marie Saint, the Academy Award-winning actress celebrated for her roles in Hollywood classics including On the Waterfront and North by Northwest, has died at the age of 102. Family representative Jeff Sanderson confirmed that Saint passed away of natural causes on Tuesday at her Los Angeles home, surrounded by her loved ones.
At the time of her death, Saint was recognized as the oldest living Oscar winner and a rare surviving icon of the Golden Age of cinema. She famously claimed two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her extensive contributions to film and television.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1924, Saint initially pursued teaching before discovering an enduring passion for the theatre. She honed her craft in New York City at the Herbert Berghof Studio and the legendary Actors Studio, which was co-founded by director Elia Kazan. Her cinematic breakthrough came with Kazan’s 1954 crime drama On the Waterfront, where she starred as Edie Doyle, the love interest to Marlon Brando’s conflicted dockworker. The performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Saint later recalled the intensity of working alongside Brando, a noted method actor. In a 2013 interview with Turner Classic Movies, she described him as both adorable and slightly intimidating, noting that she felt he could look right through her. Five years later, she captivated audiences as a femme fatale in Alfred Hitchcock’s spy thriller North by Northwest. Playing opposite Cary Grant, she underwent a meticulous transformation for the role, with Grant personally curating her wardrobe, hair, and jewelry to help her embody the character of a mysterious spy. Her co-star Brando was an intense method actor and Saint admitted to having found him “adorable” but “a little frightening”. Though, to play one of “Hitchcock’s blondes”, as they were known at the time, in his masterpiece North by Northwest, she was considered a surprise choice. Male lead Grant was known for being very demanding of his leading ladies. My hair, my makeup, my shoes, my jewellery, my purse, my gloves, everything. He gave me the sense of a spy lady, and just from creating that exterior for me.
Her prolific career included starring roles in Otto Preminger’s Exodus alongside Paul Newman and John Frankenheimer’s All Fall Down. She also earned an Emmy Award in 1990 for her performance as the wealthy widow Lil Van Degan Altemus in the acclaimed miniseries People Like Us. Following a period where she stepped back from the spotlight to raise her family with her husband, director Jeffrey Hayden, Saint eventually returned to the screen in her 80s. This included a notable turn as Superman’s adoptive mother in the 2006 blockbuster Superman Returns, as well as roles in Winter’s Tale and the 2019 drama Mariette in Ecstasy. And she was Warren Beatty’s love interest in John Frankenheimer’s All Fall Down, saint also starred opposite Paul Newman in Otto Preminger’s Exodus in 1960. Alongside Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe, and the 2019 nun drama Mariette in Ecstasy, and she later had parts in the supernatural fantasy Winter’s Tale.
Reflecting on her enduring career, Saint told Turner Classic Movies that aging provided her with a unique advantage as a performer. She believed that life experience made one smarter and more observant, ultimately refining her emotional depth as an actress. Her marriage to Jeffrey Hayden spanned 65 years until his death in 2016, and she is survived by their two children. The smarter you get, because you’ve been around, you’ve seen things,” she told TCM, the longer you live.
