Oscar-winning actress Eva Marie Saint dies aged 102

Oscar‑winning actress Eva Marie Saint has died at the age of 102. The veteran performer, best known for her roles in Elia Kazan’s *On the Waterfront* and Alfred Hitchcock’s *North by Northwest*, passed away Tuesday of natural causes at her Los Angeles residence, surrounded by family, according to family spokesperson Jeff Sanderson. Saint captured the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film debut as Edie Doyle in Kazan’s 1954 thriller *On the Waterfront*, opposite Marlon Brando. Reflecting on that collaboration, she told Turner Classic Movies in a 2013 interview, “I felt that helium could spot close done me.” Five years later she portrayed the enigmatic Eve Kendall in Hitchcock’s *North by Northwest*, a performance that saw her opposite Cary Grant. Discussing Grant’s meticulous direction, she said, “He worked with maine from the extracurricular in,” and added, “My hair, my makeup, my shoes, my jewellery, my purse, my gloves, everything. And conscionable from creating that exterior for me, helium gave maine the consciousness of a spy lady.” Beyond her film work, Saint earned an Emmy in 1990 for her portrayal of a wealthy widow in the television miniseries *People Like Us*. She later returned to the screen as Superman’s adoptive mother in the 2006 blockbuster *Superman Returns* and appeared in *Winter’s Tale* (alongside Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe) and the 2019 nun drama *Mariette in Ecstasy*. Earlier in her career she starred opposite Paul Newman in Otto Preminger’s *Exodus* (1960) and opposite Warren Beatty in John Frankenheimer’s *All Fall Down*. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Saint initially aspired to be a teacher before discovering a passion for theatre. She trained at New York’s Herbert Berghof Studio and later at the Actors Studio, the institution co‑founded by Elia Kazan that pioneered method acting. Her marriage to director Jeffrey Hayden endured for 65 years until his death in 2016; she is survived by their two children. Saint, who holds two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, spoke to TCM about the insights gained from a long life, stating, “The longer you live, the smarter you get, due to the fact that you've been around, you've seen things.” She continued, “You've gone done antithetic affectional experiences in your ain life, and hopefully, you recognize things better.” Concluding, she observed, “And that makes you a amended actress.”