Eva Marie Saint

His first important role took place in 1954, in the filmThe Law of Silence , a masterpiece by Elia Kazan . The actress played Edie Doyle, the good and educated young woman who fell in love with the rough and rude protagonist, the unforgettable Terry Malloy played by Marlon Brando . The Academy was dazzled by the blonde in love with her and awarded her the Oscar for best supporting actress. Eva Marie Saint was 30 years old, and her career heralded many more successes.

Eva Marie Saint was born in Newark, New Jersey, on July 4, 1924, a very important date in the United States as they celebrate Independence Day. Her career in the cinema was not very early, although the actress was clear about her priorities. She studied acting at Bowling Green State University, and soon after she began working on radio shows and appearing in many episodes of different television series. However, her talents did not come to the fore until she played a role on the stage in 1953. She was in Horton Foote ‘s “A Trip to Bointiful,” and Eva received the Critics’ Choice Award. Kazan then signed her up for the role that would change her life inThe law of silence . Eva Marie caught her attention because of her incredible tenderness, her silent sadness and her sweet heart full of innocence. Not even the brutish stevedore from New York could bear such claims, and after surrendering at her feet he found the strength to face her ghosts and regain her dignity. In 1951 the actress had married the television director Jeffrey Hayden –to whom she is still married after 60 years!–, and just two days after receiving the Oscar for her performance, Eva gave birth to the first of her two children, Darrell and Laurette.

In 1957 he would work on two solid films: the three-hour drama directed by Edward Dmytryk The Tree of Life , opposite Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor ; and a recreation of the hell of drug addiction in the pioneeringA Hat Full of Rain , directed by Fred Zinnemann and thanks to which the actress received a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nomination. And in 1959 another of her most resounding successes would arrive thanks to her collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock inWith death on his heels . The actress played the bold Eve Kendall, an attractive double agent who falls in love with the great Cary Grant . When talking about Hitchcock, the actress comments: “She told me that I made movies where I washed the dishes in a gray apron and that the public wanted to see the leading actress elegant and well dressed…” And she laconically stated: “No one saw me as the”. It’s a pity that the actress never again became part of the blonde females of the British genius, despite the fact that she considered her participation inMarnie the thief andTorn curtain .

In 1960 the last great film in the filmography of Eva Marie Saint would arrive. It is about the monumentalOtto Preminger ‘s Exodus , starring Paul Newman and where the Saint played Kitty Fremont, Newman’s love. From that date on, she made several interesting films, but none of them had the impact of the previous ones. She accompanied Warren Beatty inHis own hell (1962) and James Garner in the rhythm36 hours (1965), and the same year he coincided again with Elizabeth Taylor in the melodramaSandcastles . In 1966 she again paired with Garner and director John Frankenheimer inGrand Prix and he finally released himself in the successful comedyThe Russians Are Coming , by Norman Jewison . He also co-starred in the 1968 remarkableThe Night of the Giants , with Gregory Peck . But the roles that she obtained from her did not satisfy her and Eva she gradually withdrew from the cinema and she devoted more time to television, where she made innumerable telefilms. Among the most remembered are the western The Macahans (1976), the thriller Fatal Vision (1984), or the dramas Through the Darkness (1984), People Like Us (1990)–for which Saint won the Emmy Award– , YMy Antonia (1995).

In the new millennium, the very veteran actress continued to work and has appeared in films with a certain cachet, such asI Dreamed of Africa (2000),Knocking on Heaven’s Doors (2005) andSuperman Returns (2006), his last work on screen. She currently lives with her husband in Santa Monica, California.