EVA MARIE SAINT

'Eva Marie Saint' (born July 4, 1924) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. She has starred on Broadway, in films and on television beginning in the 1950s.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Early television career

Film debut

Hitchcock blonde

Mid-career

Later career

Awards

Filmography

Television Work

Notes

External links

Biography

Early life

Saint was born in Newark, New Jersey but attended Bethlehem Central High School in Delmar, NY, graduating in 1942. Eva was inducted into the high school's hall of fame in 2006. She studied acting at Bowling Green State University, while a member of Delta Gamma Sorority. There is also a theatre on Bowling Green campus named after her. She was also an active member in the theater honorary fraternity, Theta Alpha Phi.

Early television career

In the late '40s, she began doing extensive work in radio and television before winning the Drama Critics Award for her Broadway stage role in the Horton Foote play ''The Trip to Bountiful'' (1953), in which she co-starred with such formidable actors as Lillian Gish and Jo Van Fleet. In 1955, she was nominated for her first Emmy for "Best Actress In A Single Performance" on The Philco Television Playhouse for the playing the young mistress of middle-aged E. G. Marshall in ''Middle of the Night'' by Paddy Chayevsky. She won another Emmy nomination for the 1955 television musical version of the Thornton Wilder classic play ''Our Town'' with co-stars Paul Newman (in his only musical role) and Frank Sinatra. Her success and acclaim were of such a high level that the young Saint earned the nickname "the Helen Hayes of television."

Film debut

Saint's first feature motion picture role was in ''On the Waterfront'' (1954), directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando — a smart, sympathetic, and emotionally-charged role for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Her performance as Edie Doyle (whose brother Joey's death sets the film's drama in motion) which she won over such leading contenders as Grace Kelly, Janice Rule, and Elizabeth Montgomery, also earned her a British Academy of Film and Television Award for "Most Promising Newcomer." In his ''New York Times'' review, film critic Bosley Crowther wrote:

"In casting Eva Marie Saint — a newcomer to movies from TV and Broadway — Mr. Kazan has come up with a pretty and blond artisan who does not have to depend on these attributes. Her parochial school training is no bar to love with the proper stranger. Amid scenes of carnage, she gives tenderness and sensitivity to genuine romance."^[1]

In a 2000 interview in ''Premiere'' magazine, Saint recalled making the hugely influential film:
The watershed success of the film launched Saint into many of the best known films of her early screen career. They include starring with Don Murray in the powerful and pioneering drug-addiction drama, ''A Hatful of Rain'' (1957), for which she won the "Best Foreign Actress" from the British Academy of Film and Television, and the lavish Civil War epic ''Raintree County,'' opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.

Hitchcock blonde

Legendary director Alfred Hitchcock surprised many by choosing the stately and serious Saint over dozens of other candidates for the femme fatale role in what was to become a suspense classic ''North by Northwest'' (1959) with Cary Grant and James Mason. Written by Ernest Lehman, the brilliant and immensely entertaining film updated and expanded upon the director's early "wrong man" spy adventures of the '30s, '40s, and '50s, including ''The 39 Steps'', ''Young and Innocent'', and ''Foreign Correspondent''. ''North by Northwest'' not only became a massive box-office hit but also a major influence on other spy films for decades. The film ranks number forty on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time.
At the time of the film's production, much publicity was garnered by ''Hitchcock's'' decision to cut Saint's waist-length blonde hair for the very first time in her career. Hitchcock explained at the time, "Short hair gives Eva a more exotic look, in keeping with her role of the glamorous woman of my story. I wanted her dressed like a kept woman – smart, simple, subtle and quiet. In other words, anything but the bangles and beads type." The director also worked with Saint to make her voice lower and huskier and even personally chose costumes for her during a shopping trip to Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. The change in Saint's screen persona, coupled with her adroit performance as a seductive woman of mystery who keeps Cary Grant (and the audience) off-balance, was widely heralded. In his ''New York Times'' review of August 7, 1959. critic Bosley Crowther wrote, "In casting Eva Marie Saint as [Cary Grant's] romantic vis-a-vis, Mr. Hitchcock has plumbed some talents not shown by the actress heretofore. Although she is seemingly a hard, designing type, she also emerges both the sweet heroine and a glamorous charmer." In 2000, recalling her experience making the picture with Cary Grant and Hitchcock, Saint said, "[Grant] would say, "See, Eva Marie, you don't have to cry in a movie to have a good time. Just kick up your heels and have fun." Hitchcock said, "I don't want you to do a sink-to-sink movie again, ever. You've done these black-and-white movies like ''On the Waterfront''. It's drab in that tenement house. Women go to the movies, and they've just left the sink at home. They don't want to see you at the sink." I said, "I can't promise you that, Hitch, because I love those dramas."

Mid-career

Although ''North by Northwest'' might have propelled her to the very top ranks of stardom, she elected to limit her film work in order to spend time with her husband since 1951, director Jeffrey Hayden, and their two children. Nevertheless, in the 1960s, Saint continued to distinguish herself in both high-profile and more offbeat motion pictures, including co-starring again with Paul Newman in the historical drama about the founding of the state of Israel ''Exodus'' (1960), directed by Otto Preminger. She also co-starred with Warren Beatty, Karl Malden, and Angela Lansbury as a tragic beauty in the 1962 drama ''All Fall Down''. Based upon a novel by James Leo Herlihy and a screenplay by William Inge, the film was directed by John Frankenheimer. She was also seen with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the highly-publicized melodrama ''The Sandpiper'' for Vincente Minnelli, and with James Garner in thriller ''36 Hours'', directed by George Seaton. She was among the all-star casts in the comedic satire ''The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming'', directed by Norman Jewison and the international racing drama ''Grand Prix'' presented in Cinerama and directed by John Frankenheimer. Although she was announced as the leading lady opposite Steve McQueen in director Norman Jewison's ultra-stylish romantic caper film ''The Thomas Crown Affair'' (1968), the meteoric rise of newcomer Faye Dunaway, who was cast instead, cost Saint a rare glamorous and sexy role.
In 1970, she received some of the best reviews of her film career for ''Loving'', in which she co-starred as the wife of George Segal in a critically-acclaimed but underseen film drama about a commercial artist's relationship with his wife and the other women in his life. Because of the mostly second-rate film roles that came her way in the 1970s, Saint returned to television and the stage in the 1980s. She has appeared in a number of made-for-TV movies, played the mother of Cybill Shepherd on the hit television series ''Moonlighting'', winning an Emmy nomination for the 1977 miniseries ''How The West Was Won'', a 1978 Emmy nomination for ''Taxi'' and an Emmy in 1990 for the mini-series ''People Like Us''.

Later career

In 2000, she co-starred with Kim Basinger in the motion picture ''I Dreamed of Africa'', with Jessica Lange for director Wim Wenders in ''Don't Come Knocking'' (2005) written by Sam Shepard, and in the heart-tugging family film ''Because of Winn-Dixie''. In 2006, Saint once again became a household name by playing Martha Kent, the adoptive mother of Superman, in ''Superman Returns''.
She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures at 6624 Hollywood Blvd., and one for television at 6730 Hollywood Blvd.
In 1984, together with Simone de Beauvoir, Eva Mari Saint was immortalised in the chorus of the title track of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions classic album "Rattlesnakes" where the heroine Jodie "..looked like Eva Maria Saint, in on the Waterfront".

Awards

Filmography

Features:

★ ''On the Waterfront'' (1954)

★ ''That Certain Feeling'' (1956)

★ ''A Hatful of Rain'' (1957)

★ ''Raintree County'' (1957)

★ ''North by Northwest'' (1959)

★ ''Exodus'' (1960)

★ ''All Fall Down'' (1962)

★ ''36 Hours'' (1965)

★ ''The Sandpiper'' (1965)

★ ''The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'' (1966)

★ ''Grand Prix'' (1966)

★ ''The Stalking Moon'' (1968)

★ ''Loving'' (1970)

★ ''Cancel My Reservation'' (1972)

★ ''Nothing in Common'' (1986)

★ ''Mariette in Ecstasy'' (1996)

★ ''Time to Say Goodbye?'' (1997)

★ ''I Dreamed of Africa'' (2000)

★ '' (2003) (documentary)

★ ''Because of Winn-Dixie'' (2005)

★ ''Don't Come Knocking'' (2005)

★ ''Superman Returns'' (2006)
Upcoming:

★ ''Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age'' (2008) (documentary)
Short Subjects:

★ ''Operation Raintree'' (1957)

★ ''Grand Prix: Challenge of the Champions'' (1966)

Television Work

★ ''Campus Hoopla'' (1946-1947)

★ ''A Christmas Carol'' (1947)

★ ''Versatile Varieties'' (cast member from 1950-1951)

★ ''One Man's Family'' (cast member from (1950-1952)

★ ''The Trip to Bountiful'' (1953)

★ ''The First Woman President'' (1974)

★ ''The Macahans'' (1976)

★ ''The Fatal Weakness'' (1976)

★ ''How the West Was Won'' (1977) (miniseries)

★ ''Taxi!!!'' (1978)

★ ''A Christmas to Remember'' (1978)

★ ''When Hell Was in Session'' (1979)

★ ''The Curse of King Tut's Tomb'' (1980)

★ ''The Best Little Girl in the World'' (1981)

★ ''Splendor in the Grass'' (1981)

★ ''Malibu'' (1983) (miniseries)

★ ''Jane Doe'' (1983)

★ ''Love Leads the Way: A True Story'' (1984)

★ ''Fatal Vision'' (1984)

★ ''A Year in the Life'' (1986) (miniseries)

★ ''The Last Days of Patton'' (1986)

★ ''Breaking Home Ties'' (1987)

★ ''I'll Be Home for Christmas'' (1988)

★ ''Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair'' (1990)

★ ''People Like Us'' (1990)

★ ''Palomino'' (1991)

★ ''Kiss of a Killer'' (1993)

★ ''My Ántonia'' (1995)

★ ''After Jimmy'' (1996)

★ ''Titanic'' (1996) (miniseries)

★ ''Jackie's Back!'' (1999)

★ ''Papa's Angels'' (2000)

★ ''Open House'' (2003)

Notes

1. New York Times, July 30, 1954

External links

★

★ Idol Chatter: Eva Marie Saint

★ On Life Between Brando’s Babe and Superman’s Mom (''Moving Pictures Magazine'' interview)