Eva Marie Saint Dies at 102: Remembering the Oscar Winner Through Her Finest Films

Eva Marie Saint, the Hollywood actress who won an Academy Award for her first film and went on to star opposite Cary Grant in an Alfred Hitchcock classic, died on Tuesday, October 6, at her home in Los Angeles. She was 102.

Her family said she died of natural causes, surrounded by relatives and loved ones. She was the oldest living Oscar winner at the time of her death.

Born on July 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey, Saint grew up in Albany and Delmar, New York, and studied at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She trained at The Actors Studio and made her name in live television and on Broadway, where her turn in "The Trip to Bountiful" in 1953 caught the eye of director Elia Kazan. Her career then ran for more than seven decades.

HER BEST-KNOWN FILMS

On the Waterfront (1954)

Her film debut, directed by Kazan. Saint plays Edie Doyle, the sister of a murdered longshoreman, who falls for Marlon Brando's Terry Malloy, a former boxer caught up in a mob-run dockworkers' union. The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Brando. Saint took Best Supporting Actress and collected her Oscar two days before giving birth to her first child.

A Hatful of Rain (1957)

A drama directed by Fred Zinnemann about a young man's secret drug addiction and the toll it takes on his marriage. Saint plays his pregnant wife, who senses something is wrong without knowing what. It showed she could carry a darker, domestic story after the Oscar.

Raintree County (1957)

An epic Civil War-era romance starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, with Saint as Nell Gaither, the Indiana schoolteacher at the centre of the hero's life. It was one of the big-budget studio films she took on during her selective first decade in Hollywood.

North by Northwest (1959)

Her most celebrated role after "Waterfront." In Hitchcock's cross-country thriller, Saint plays Eve Kendall, a cool and seductive spy who draws Cary Grant's Madison Avenue executive into a case of mistaken identity. She credited her husband with persuading her to take the part, and its mix of danger and glamour made her the quintessential "Hitchcock blonde." She hosted a Turner Classic Movies documentary on the film in 2000.

Exodus (1960)

Otto Preminger's sweeping drama about the founding of Israel, with Paul Newman in the lead. Saint plays Kitty Fremont, an American nurse drawn into the story. The film was a major box-office success and one of her best-known roles of the decade.

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966)

A Cold War comedy directed by Norman Jewison, in which a Soviet submarine runs aground off a New England island and panic spreads through the town. Saint plays the wife of a vacationing writer in an ensemble comedy, showing a lighter side after years of serious parts.

Grand Prix (1966)

John Frankenheimer's racing epic, set among Formula One drivers across Europe. Saint plays Louise Frederickson, the wife of a driver, in a film noted for its on-track cinematography and international cast.

Nothing in Common (1986)

After a long break from the big screen, she returned in Garry Marshall's comedy-drama as Tom Hanks's mother. The film follows a young ad executive who has to look after his parents after their marriage breaks down. It marked her comeback to major films.

Superman Returns (2006)

In Bryan Singer's superhero film, Saint played Martha Kent, the Earth mother of the Man of Steel. It was one of her best-known late roles and introduced her to a new generation of viewers. Her last film was "Mariette in Ecstasy" in 2019.

TELEVISION AND AWARDS

Saint earned five Emmy nominations and won in 1990 for her performance as a wealthy, narcissistic woman in the NBC miniseries "People Like Us." She returned to television in the 1970s, appearing in "How the West Was Won" and "Taxi!!!," and presented at the Academy Awards in 2009 and 2018.

She appeared in only seven films in her first decade in Hollywood and turned down roles in "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit," "Summer and Smoke" and "The Rainmaker." Family, she said, mattered more to her than her career.

Saint met the director Jeffrey Hayden on a New York subway and married him in 1951. They stayed together for 65 years, until his death in 2016. She is survived by their two children, Darrell and Laurette, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

With inputs from ANI