Oscar-winning actress Eva Marie Saint has died at the age of 102, bringing to a close one of the last surviving careers from Hollywood’s Golden Age. The On the Waterfront and North by Northwest star died of natural causes at her Los Angeles home on Tuesday.
The Eva Marie Saint death was confirmed by a representative for her family. Her acting career stretched across more than seven decades, from early television appearances to major Hollywood films and later television roles.
Saint became a star with her very first feature film. She appeared opposite Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan’s acclaimed 1954 drama On the Waterfront.
Her performance as Edie Doyle earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The film received 12 Oscar nominations and won eight awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Brando.
From ‘On the Waterfront’ to Hitchcock Classic
Saint followed her Oscar-winning debut with roles alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Her early films included Raintree County, with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, and A Hatful of Rain.
However, one of her most famous roles came in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller North by Northwest. Saint played the mysterious Eve Kendall opposite Cary Grant and James Mason.
The film became a major success and established Saint as one of the leading actresses of her generation. Despite her growing fame, she later reduced her film work to spend more time with her family.
Her career continued with Exodus, opposite Paul Newman, and All Fall Down, alongside Warren Beatty and Angela Lansbury. She also appeared in Grand Prix, The Sandpiper, 36 Hours and The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.
Eva Marie Saint Continued Acting Into Her 90s
Saint increasingly returned to television during the 1970s and 1980s. She earned Emmy nominations and appeared in popular series including Moonlighting and Frasier.
Later generations also knew her as Martha Kent, Superman’s adoptive mother, in the 2006 film Superman Returns.
Her final feature film appearance came in Winter’s Tale in 2014. She continued working afterward and appeared in the 2021 audio production The Bus Ride.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, on July 4, 1924, Saint studied acting at Bowling Green State University in Ohio before beginning her professional career in television.
The Eva Marie Saint death leaves Hollywood without one of its final links to the era that produced some of American cinema’s most celebrated films.
Her husband, director Jeffrey Hayden, died in 2016. Saint is survived by their two children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
