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Family representative Jeff Sanderson confirmed that Eva Marie Saint died of natural causes on October 6, 2026, at her home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and loved ones. Until her death she had been the oldest surviving Oscar winner. She stood as one of the last links to Hollywood’s golden age, with a career that stretched more than seven decades across film and television.
Saint earned the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her debut performance in Elia Kazan’s 1954 drama On the Waterfront, where she played Edie Doyle, the sister of a murder victim who falls for Marlon Brando’s longshoreman character. A New York Times assessment found that the film remains near the top of the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest American movies. Her work in the production, which featured an exceptional cast and crew, secured her place in cinema history.
Five years after her debut Saint portrayed the elegant yet duplicitous Eve Kendall in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller North by Northwest, opposite Cary Grant as a man on the run. The role required her to shift between sophistication and danger during the film’s iconic sequences, including the climax at Mount Rushmore. Variety noted on the occasion of her 97th birthday that she delivered far more than a standard damsel in distress.
Saint won an Emmy Award in 1990 for her portrayal of a wealthy widow in the miniseries People Like Us, according to CNN. She continued working into her 80s and 90s with supporting turns in Because of Winn-Dixie in 2005 and Superman Returns in 2006. Her early training came in the demanding format of live television dramas, which sharpened her concentration under pressure.
Born on July 4, 1924, in Newark, New Jersey, Saint graduated from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where a theater now carries her name, a Vanity Fair obituary stated. She married television director Jeffrey Hayden in 1951 after the pair met on a New York subway train, and they remained together for 65 years until his death in 2016. The couple collaborated on stage productions including Love Letters and raised two children.
SAG-AFTRA noted that Saint had been a union member since 1947 and praised her as an advocate for organized labor who left an example for future generations. She is survived by her children Darrell and Laurette, four grandchildren named Eli, Tyler, Molly and Stella, and two great-grandchildren named Arlo and Finley. Her two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and one for television, mark her dual contributions to the industry.
