'I May Have the Baby Right Here': Eva Marie Saint Dies at 102

Eva Marie Saint, the Academy Award winner who made her film debut opposite Marlon Brando and spent the next nine decades proving it was not a fluke, died Monday in Los Angeles ... she was 102, the oldest living Oscar winner at the time of her death.

Her first film was On the Waterfront (1954), directed by Elia Kazan. She played Edie Doyle opposite Brando in the picture that swept eight Academy Awards including Best Picture. Saint took Best Supporting Actress. She was paid $7,500 for the role.

When she walked to the podium that night, she was days from giving birth to her son Darrell. Standing there, she looked out at the audience and said: 'I may have the baby right here!' Darrell arrived two days later.

Hitchcock Cast Her Next. Then Cary Grant Had to Keep Up.

In 1959, Alfred Hitchcock cast her as Eve Kendall in North by Northwest, the thriller opposite Cary Grant that held the top spot at the American box office for seven consecutive weeks. Hitchcock personally coached her voice on set and selected her wardrobe. Grant told her: 'You don't have to cry in a movie to have a good time. Just kick up your heels.'

Eve Kendall was not a supporting character. She was a double agent with her own agenda who turned the plot on its head. That casting choice, made by one of the most controlling directors of the era, said something about what Saint brought to a room.

Nine Decades and No Coasting

Her career ran from live television in the 1940s through Superman Returns in 2006 and voice work in The Legend of Korra from 2012 to 2014. She earned five Emmy nominations, winning for the 1990 miniseries People Like Us. In a generation of Golden Age actresses whose careers narrowed or stopped after the studio system ended, Saint kept finding material.

She was born July 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey. She married television director Jeffrey Hayden in 1951. They were together 65 years, until his death in 2016. She celebrated her 100th birthday on July 4, 2024, surrounded by four generations of family.

What She Leaves Behind

Saint did not become a symbol of her era. She outlasted it. Her generation built careers by competing for the best material, stepping into rooms with Brando and Hitchcock and surviving the politics of a studio system that could drop you as fast as it found you. At 102, she was the last one still in that room.

There is no record of her playing a victim who stayed one. Edie Doyle got justice. Eve Kendall had her own agenda. Even in later television, she arrived as someone who knew what she was doing and left the same way. That is the part of the Golden Age worth keeping.

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'I May Have the Baby Right Here': Eva Marie Saint Dies at 102

Hitchcock Cast Her Next. Then Cary Grant Had to Keep Up.

Nine Decades and No Coasting

What She Leaves Behind

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