Eva Marie Saint Decided She Did Not Want to Be a Superstar
She turned down a big movie in Europe and said she did not want to be a superstar.
Global News Podcast · French government holds crisis talks after school protestsThe moment came when Eva Marie Saint told her agent she could not make a big movie in Europe. The agent, who found it hard to understand her wish for a normal home life, answered her directly.
Saint later repeated what happened to Vincent Dowd, the broadcast reporter who interviewed her and looked back on her life and career. “Well, Eva Marie, you’ll just never be a superstar,” the agent said. Saint replied, “You know, I guess I don’t wanna be.”
Dowd said she fit the kind of clever blonde leading woman favored by director Alfred Hitchcock. In 1959, in North by Northwest, she acted with Cary Grant as a woman he meets on a train to Chicago, a part that defined her career. She had won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her debut movie, On the Waterfront in 1954, in which she played Brando's love interest, whose brother is murdered.
Saint was born in New Jersey to a Quaker family, and she started performing on television and radio in New York during the late 1940s. Success in On the Waterfront brought many other film offers.
But, as Dowd put it, she also wanted a normal home life. Saint said of the European offer, “I can’t do it.”
Lead roles became less frequent. Later work was mainly on television. Saint kept working into her 90s. She died at 102. She was the oldest living Oscar holder, for a win that came near the start of her screen career.
Questions people ask
What was her breakthrough film?
On the Waterfront in 1954 was her first film, and she won best supporting actress for playing a young woman whose brother has been killed. Her co-star was Marlon Brando, the biggest name in the film. The part brought her many other film offers.
What part did she play for Hitchcock?
North by Northwest is a 1959 thriller by Alfred Hitchcock about an advertising man mistaken for a spy. Saint plays a woman Grant's character meets on a train to Chicago. Dowd said it was the part that defined her career.
How long did she keep working?
She began in New York in the late 1940s on television and radio. After films, lead movie roles became less frequent and later work was mainly on television. She kept acting into her 90s.