Veteran actor Eva Marie Saint has died at the age of 102.
Eva made her big-screen debut in 1954’s On The Waterfront, going on to win an Oscar for her performance as Marlon Brando’s love interest in the movie.
Her other notable screen credits included A Hatful Of Rain, Exodus and North By Northwest.
Jeff Sanderson, her representative, confirmed that she died of natural causes on Tuesday night at her home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and loved ones.
Eva’s acting career began in the late 1940s, with a string of one-off TV performances, before being cast as Claudia Barbour Roberts in the domestic drama One Man’s Family.
From there, she landed the role of Edie Doyle in On The Waterfront, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She attended the awards show two days before the birth of her son, Darrell, quipping on stage: “I think I may have the baby right here.”
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While Eva’s success for On The Waterfront made her an in-demand star, she surprised many when she refused offers of studio contracts and was sparing with the roles she chose, to allow her to spend more time with her new family.
Eva was then chosen by Alfred Hitchcock to star opposite Cary Grant as Eve Kendall in his thriller North By Northwest, which she followed with roles in Exodus and All Fall Down in the early 1960s.
Her additional film work included the comedy Loving, the drama I Dreamed Of Africa and 2006’s Superman Returns, in which she played the hero’s mother, Martha Kent.
On the small screen, she appeared in the sitcoms Moonlighting and Frasier, lent her voice to the character of Katara in the animated fantasy series The Legend Of Korra and won an Emmy for the miniseries People Like Us.
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The late actor’s final on-screen performance came in 2014, when she was cast in the romance Winter’s Tale, starring Colin Farrell and Jessica Brown Findlay.
Eva married the film producer Jeffrey Hayden in 1956, and they remained together until his death in December 2016.
During their marriage, Eva and Jeffrey welcomed a son and a daughter. In 2024, she said she would be celebrating her 100th birthday with “four generations of family”.
