Susan Saint James, Emmy-Winning Star of 'McMillan & Wife' and 'Kate & Allie,' Dies at 80

Susan Saint James, the Emmy-winning actress who starred opposite Rock Hudson in "McMillan & Wife" and alongside Jane Curtin in the CBS sitcom "Kate & Allie," died Monday, Oct. 26, in Los Angeles after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Variety reported. She was 80.

A representative confirmed her death to People, according to Variety and Deadline. Her survivors include her husband of 45 years, former NBC Sports chairman and "Saturday Night Live" executive producer Dick Ebersol.

From "The Name of the Game" to "McMillan & Wife"

Born Susan Jane Miller in Los Angeles on Aug. 14, 1946, Saint James was raised in Rockford, Illinois, and began modeling as a teenager, NBC News reported. At 20 she returned to Los Angeles and signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios, making her television debut in the 1966 TV movie "Fame Is the Name of the Game."

That film became the NBC series "The Name of the Game," in which Saint James played research assistant Peggy Maxwell opposite rotating leads Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry and Robert Stack. She won an Emmy for the role in 1969, NBC News reported. The Hollywood Reporter said she was nominated eight times in all: for "The Name of the Game" in 1969, 1970 and 1971; for "McMillan & Wife" in 1972, 1973 and 1975; and for "Kate & Allie" in 1984 and 1985.

Beginning in 1971, she played Sally McMillan, the wife of Hudson's San Francisco police commissioner Stewart "Mac" McMillan, on "McMillan & Wife," part of the rotating NBC Mystery Movie lineup alongside "Columbo" and "McCloud," according to The Hollywood Reporter. She left the show in 1976 in a contract dispute before its sixth and final season, and her character was killed off in a plane crash, NBC News and Deadline reported.

Her film work included "Outlaw Blues" (1977) with Peter Fonda, the vampire comedy "Love at First Bite" (1979) with George Hamilton, "How to Beat the High Cost of Living" (1980) with Jessica Lange and Curtin, and "Carbon Copy" (1981), the film in which Denzel Washington made his movie debut, NBC News reported.

"Kate & Allie" and leaving Hollywood

Saint James reunited with Curtin in "Kate & Allie," which premiered on CBS on March 19, 1984, with the two playing divorced mothers and childhood friends who share a home in New York's Greenwich Village while raising their children, Deadline reported. Saint James played the free-spirited Kate McArdle and Curtin the more conventional Allie Lowell. The series ran until 1989, and The Hollywood Reporter noted that it was nominated three times for the Emmy for outstanding comedy series.

After the show ended, Saint James largely stepped away from acting, The Hollywood Reporter reported, though she made guest appearances on series including "The Drew Carey Show," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Suits" and "Upload." She told People in 2002 that she had been tired of being "one of those people juggling knives and melons and then [saying], 'Toss me in a razor blade,'" according to The Hollywood Reporter.

She met Ebersol while guest-hosting "Saturday Night Live" in 1981, and the two married barely six weeks later, NBC News reported. She was also a longtime supporter of the Special Olympics, serving as a board member and campaign co-chair for Special Olympics Connecticut, the Los Angeles Times reported. In a statement, the organization said she "believed deeply in the power of inclusion." She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008.

Family statement

On Nov. 28, 2004, a private plane carrying Ebersol and sons Charles and Teddy crashed at Montrose Regional Airport in Colorado, Deadline reported. Ebersol and Charles survived; 14-year-old Teddy was killed, along with the pilot and a flight attendant.

In its statement, shared with People, the family described Saint James as "generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up. She taught her children to pause, be kind and look out for other people," Variety reported. "She never met a stranger," the statement continued. "Every person she met became the most important person in the room at that moment, from a fellow board member to the clerk at the shoe store, who usually walked away knowing her entire life story."

The family called her response to Teddy's death her "defining act," saying that weeks after the crash "she delivered his eulogy as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal."

Saint James is survived by Ebersol; her four children, Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol and Willie Ebersol; seven grandchildren; and her sister, Mary Mercedes Dewey, according to the family statement published by Deadline. Her niece is actress Christa Miller, The Hollywood Reporter reported.