Eva Marie Saint

Eva Marie Saint Actress - Born July 4, 1924 in Newark, New Jersey, USA

Nickname The Helen Hayes of Television

Height 5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini Bio (2) Actress and producer Eva Marie Saint was born on July 4, 1924 on Newark, New Jersey. She is known for starring in Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront (1954), for which she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). Her film career also includes roles in Raintree County (1957), Exodus (1960), The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966), Grand Prix (1966), Nothing in Common (1986), Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), Superman Returns (2006) and Winter's Tale (2014).

Saint made her feature film debut in On the Waterfront (1954), starring Marlon Brando and directed by Elia Kazan - a performance for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The film was a major success and launched her movie career. She starred in the pioneering drug-addiction drama A Hatful of Rain (1957) with Don Murray and Anthony Franciosa. She also starred in lavish the Civil War epic Raintree County (1957) with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.

Director Alfred Hitchcock surprised many by choosing 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 film updated and expanded upon the director's early "wrong man" spy adventures of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, including The 39 Steps (1935), Young and Innocent (1937), and Saboteur (1942). North by Northwest (1959) became a box-office success and an influence on spy films for decades.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Pedro Borges

Played one of most famous female leads in movie history, opposite Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954). She certainly brought "real acting" in a time when melodrama still ran rampant in the industry. Who can forget her memorable argument scene with Brando when she says, "I didn't say I don't love you, I said I want you to get out." Eva Marie Saint is still going strong with her work. She takes the fact that she's part of film history in her stride.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Brian Michael Tracy

Spouse (1) Jeffrey Hayden (28 October 1951 - 24 December 2016) his death 2 children M1. Darrell Hayden (1 April 1955) F2. Laurette Hayden (19 July 1958)

Has campaigned to ban the usage of cell phones by motorists.

Son Darrell was born two days after she won the Oscar for On the Waterfront (1954).

Although the role of Edie Doyle properly is a lead, producer Sam Spiegel listed her as a Supporting Actress in the hopes of getting her a nomination. The ploy worked and she won the Oscar.

Received the role of Edie Doyle in On the Waterfront (1954) over Elizabeth Montgomery. Director Elia Kazan, in his autobiography "A Life," says that the choice of an actress to play the part was narrowed down to Elizabeth Montgomery and Saint. Although Montgomery was fine in her screen test, there was an air of finishing school about her. Kazan thought this genteel quality would not be becoming for Edie, who was raised on the waterfront in Hoboken, NJ. He gave the part to Saint, and she went on to win cinematic immortality, and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, in the part.

In 1987, the Eva Marie Saint Theater was dedicated on the campus of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. She graduated from the university in 1946.

Is a member of the Delta Gamma sorority.

She studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village, New York City.

She and her performance in On the Waterfront (1954) are mentioned in the song "Rattlesnakes" by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions.

She was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6624 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Television at 6730 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

According to the 1942 Bethlehem Central High School yearbook, Eva Marie's nickname was "Bubbles" and her ambition was to be a teacher; she was also a cheerleader as well as senior class secretary.

She was mentioned in Lucky Number Slevin (2006).

Is one of six actresses to have been pregnant at the time of winning the Academy Award; the others are Patricia Neal, Meryl Streep, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman. Neal is the only to have not accepted her award in person as a result of her pregnancy. Saint was nine months pregnant with her son Darrell at the time of winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for On the Waterfront (1954).

Was the 41st actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for On the Waterfront (1954) at The 27th Annual Academy Awards (1955) on March 30, 1955.

Elia Kazan described her as "Perfect... she was just perfect. Everybody loved her--especially me!".

François Truffaut's Day for Night (1973) is her favorite film.

Grandmother of Tyler (b. 1985) and Molly Hayden (b. 1988), via son Darrell, and Eli Beller (b. 1990), via daughter Laurette.

Gave birth to her first child at age 30, a son Darrell Hayden on April 1, 1955. Child's father is her husband, Jeffrey Hayden.

Gave birth to her second child at age 34, a daughter Laurette Hayden on July 19, 1958. Child's father is her husband, Jeffrey Hayden.

Paternal granddaughter of John Quincy Saint (1847-1927) and Lydia Gordon (1852-1902). Both were born and raised in Indiana.

Is one of 13 actresses who won their Best Supporting Actress Oscars in a movie that also won the Best Picture Oscar (she won for On the Waterfront (1954)). The others are Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind (1939), Teresa Wright for Mrs. Miniver (1942), Celeste Holm for Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Mercedes McCambridge for All the King's Men (1949), Donna Reed for From Here to Eternity (1953), Rita Moreno for West Side Story (1961), Meryl Streep for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Juliette Binoche for The English Patient (1996), Judi Dench for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Jennifer Connelly for A Beautiful Mind (2001), Catherine Zeta-Jones for Chicago (2002) and Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave (2013).

Daughter of John Merle Saint (1891-1965), born in Iowa, and Eva Marie Rice (1896-1987), born in New Jersey.

One older sister: Adelaide Louise Saint.

Son Darrell weighed 8 lbs 8 oz at birth according to the birth announcement printed in the April 11, 1955 issue of Time magazine in the milestones column.

As of 2016, she is the second oldest living female recipient of an Academy Award, behind only Olivia de Havilland.

She has been in two movies that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: On the Waterfront (1954) and The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966), with the former winning in the category.

Before the Academy Awards in 1969, she gave first-time nominee Sondra Locke advice on how to look for the ceremony. Eva Marie thought Sondra would look best with a straight hairstyle and a simple dress. She said to Thomas C. Ryan, 'Sondra is just not the wavy type.'.

Presented the Oscar for best costume design at the 2018 Academy Awards; admitted to being older than "the Oscars", but only by 5 months (is actually nearly 5 years older).

She has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: On the Waterfront (1954) and North by Northwest (1959).

The 1984 hit song 'Rattlesnakes' by Scottish band Lloyd Cole & the Commotions, a song about a troubled woman, contains the line: 'She looks like Eve Marie Saint in On The Waterfront'.

Alumna of Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

Personal Quotes (9)

[on Alfred Hitchcock] Hitchcock said, "I don't want you going back to sink-to-sink movies. You do movies where you wash the dishes looking drab in an apron. The audience wants to see their leading ladies dressed up". He saw me as others didn't.

[on the current crop of movie stars] America is now obsessed by stars in an unhealthy way. They don't actually deserve this kind of attention. They're only actors--not scientists who are triumphing over cancer or doing some other wonderful thing.

There were six of us [Alfred Hitchcock] blondes, and it's like we were all married to the man at one time or another. And we all have a different take on him. Each actress was at a different stage of her life; we were different ages, some married, some not. My experience with Hitch was one of utter respect, warmth, friendliness and humor, and North by Northwest (1959) was a glorious time in my life.

[on James Mason] I think he's a fine actor, a hell of an actor. A nice person to be with, hard-working and very professional.

[on Warren Beatty] Remote. There was an intelligence about him that I admired. That [All Fall Down (1962)] was one of his first films, so he wasn't that relaxed. It was hard to get to know him.

[on Cary Grant] Adorable! A dear man and funny. Probably the most elegant man I've ever worked with--or even met.

[on Montgomery Clift] Very strange, to me. Very shy, really quite unavailable--but very curious. I didn't get to know him at all. He was so painfully shy that it made me shy; however, the shyness didn't exist when we were acting together.

[on Bob Hope] Let's talk about a sense of humor! He was just downright fun to work with. He's a workaholic, which I'm not--I've other interests in my life, but he's only happy when he's performing. He is an American institution.

[on Marlon Brando] I did refer to him once as a hummingbird because you just felt his sensitivity - his sensitivity to life, I guess, and certainly to the other actor and to the material and to the moment at hand. A hummingbird you're in awe of, and you can't really catch it, but every time I see one I wish I could get even closer. And so, Brando, in that sense, is humming with all that sensitivity, and in the beginning in put me off a bit. It felt like he understood me more than I understood myself, knew more about me than I felt I knew myself. And after a while I just relaxed. And I'd come from the Actors Studio; we all had, so I just relaxed and used that. I've never been intimidated by other actors because I'm an actor. I'm not in awe, but I certainly have respect for other wonderful actors. People ask me "Weren't you nervous opposite Marlon Brando?". But no, I was at the Studio, and he was a member and a fine, fine actor.