Eva Marie Saint, who stunned viewers as a double spy in North by Northwest after winning the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in her debut film, On the Waterfront, passed away on Tuesday. She turned 102.
According to a family representative, Saint passed away at her Los Angeles home from natural causes.
The radiant blonde, who played in A Hatful of Rain as the expectant wife of a war veteran and drug addict (Don Murray), stood out as Montgomery Clift’s abandoned sweetheart in between her two outstanding cinematic accomplishments.
Quick Fact
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| What happened | Eva Marie Saint died at the age of 102. |
| Where | Los Angeles, California |
| When | Tuesday, October 6, 2026 |
| Cause of death | Natural causes |
| Known for | On the Waterfront and North by Northwest |
| Oscar win | Best Supporting Actress for On the Waterfront |
| Spouse | Jeffrey Hayden |
| Children | Darrell and Laurette |
| Legacy | A celebrated career spanning film, television and theater |
From The Trip to Bountiful to On the Waterfront
She also portrayed Cybill Shepherd’s mother in the popular ABC sitcom Moonlighting from the 1980s.
The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote was brought to Broadway by executive producer Fred Coe after Saint was cast in a live performance for NBC’s Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse in 1953.
Saint’s Oscar Winning Breakthrough Role
Marlon Brando was already cast as boxer-turned-dockhand Terry Malloy, so they had Saint recite lines and create a scene with her. She didn’t know she had won the coveted role of Edie Doyle until an assistant director called to remind her to show up for wardrobe fittings, even though they clicked right away.
Saint received the 1955 Oscar for best supporting actress for her role as the virginal Catholic girl who convinces Terry to take a stance and succeed. On the Waterfront won eight Academy Awards that evening, including best picture.
Eva Marie Saint’s Hitchcock Transformation
The “cool blonde,” Saint’s Eve Kendall, offers to assist advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) in the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest. Thornhill is on the run from both good men and evil in a case of mistaken identity. He is unaware that she is supporting a vicious spy (James Mason).
It is well known that Hitchcock took her shopping at Bergdorf Goodman and let her choose the outfits she would wear in the movie.
Eva Marie Saint’s Spy Role Takes Shape
The “cool blonde,” Saint’s Eve Kendall, offers to assist advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) in the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest. Thornhill is on the run from both good men and evil in a case of mistaken identity. He is unaware that she is supporting a vicious spy (James Mason).
It is well known that Hitchcock took her shopping at Bergdorf Goodman and let her choose the outfits she would wear in the movie.
Eva Marie Saint’s Journey Into Acting
In the early 1970s, she said she never intended to be a celebrity and avoided the big screen.
Saint grew up close to Albany, New York, after being born in Newark, New Jersey, on July 4, 1924. Her mother was a teacher, while her father worked as a research chemist for B.F. Goodrich. She played field hockey in high school, and her teacher prophesied that Adelaide, her elder sister, would have a successful acting career instead of her.
Following her sister, Saint studied in elementary education at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Eva Marie Saint’s Family and Career Choices
After appearing alongside George Segal in Loving (1970), she sacked her agency and scaled back her film career to focus on parenting Darrell and her daughter Laurette with her late husband, director-producer Jeffrey Hayden, whom she met on the NYC subway and married in 1951. (They remained together until December 2016, when he passed away.)
When she was filming abroad, such as for Grand Prix and Exodus, she frequently brought the entire family along. At the TCM Classic Film Festival in April 2018, Saint remembered the latter’s creation.
Eva Marie Saint’s Later Career and Legacy
In Nothing in Common (1986), she made her big-screen comeback for the first time in almost ten years as Tom Hanks’ mother. Her most recent roles were as Martha Kent in Superman Returns (2006), Sam Shepard’s mother in Don’t Come Knocking (2005), Akiva Goldsman’s Winter’s Tale (2014), and a voice actor for the Nickelodeon series The Legend of Korra.
A large portion of the actress’s material was donated to the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy.
Along with her children, surviving include her great-grandchildren, Arlo and Finley, and her grandkids, Eli, Stella, Tyler, and Molly.
