Eva Marie Saint, Oscar Winner for ‘On the Waterfront,’ Dies at 102

Eva Marie Saint, who won an Academy Award for her very first film, “On the Waterfront,” and later starred opposite Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” has died. She was 102. Saint died on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at her home in Los Angeles, The Associated Press reported, citing family representative Jeff Sanderson. Variety also reported her death, and PEOPLE, citing a press release, said she died of natural causes, surrounded by family and loved ones.

Her film debut is still one of the most famous in Hollywood history. Elia Kazan cast her as Edie Doyle, the love interest of Marlon Brando’s Terry Malloy, in the 1954 drama, which Variety says was nominated for 12 Oscars and won eight, including best picture and best supporting actress for Saint. The AP recounts that she was pregnant with her first child when she accepted the award from Frank Sinatra and told the audience, “I think I may have the baby right here.” Her son, Darrell, was born two days later, according to the AP.

Saint described her audition as pure chemistry. Kazan had her improvise a scene with Brando in which she tried to stop a young man from entering her apartment. “All I know is that Marlon got in the door and turned on the music. We started dancing. He flicked my skirt. Kazan saw the sparks fly, and that’s how I got the part,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2001, as quoted by the AP.

Instead of signing a studio contract after the win, she chose her roles carefully. The AP says she appeared in only seven films in her first decade in Hollywood and turned down projects such as “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit” and “The Rainmaker.” She credited her husband, director Jeffrey Hayden, with persuading her to make “North by Northwest,” the 1959 thriller in which she played spy Eve Kendall. The two were married for 65 years, until his death in 2016, according to the AP.

Her later work included “Exodus,” “Raintree County” and “All Fall Down,” and in the 1980s she played Cybill Shepherd’s mother on the hit series “Moonlighting,” according to the AP. She won an Emmy in 1990 for the miniseries “People Like Us,” both outlets report, and played Martha Kent in 2006’s “Superman Returns.” Variety lists 2014’s “Winter’s Tale” as her final big-screen appearance, and the AP notes that she voiced a role in an audio play as recently as 2021. Variety adds that she has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for film and one for television.

Saint was born on July 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up near Albany, New York. She planned to become a teacher until she won a leading role in a play at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Accounts of one early setback differ: the AP says she was turned down for the lone female role in the stage play “Mister Roberts” and hired as an understudy, while Variety says she was cast and then reduced to understudy because the director felt she lacked experience. Both agree she later studied at the Actors Studio.

She is survived by her children, Darrell and Laurette, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, according to Variety and PEOPLE. For more film news, visit our Hollywood page.

Verification: Saint’s death, age, location and career details come from The Associated Press (updated Oct. 7) and Variety (Oct. 6); the cause of death and survivors are from PEOPLE (Oct. 6), citing a press release.