Oscar-winning actress who grew up in Upstate NY turns 100

By C.J. Lais Jr.

Times Union, Albany, N.Y.

Thursday is the 100th birthday of Oscar and Emmy-winning actress Eva Marie Saint. Which means it is also the 100th birthday of one-time Delmar and Albany resident, and Bethlehem Central High School graduate ... Eva Marie Saint.

She lives today in Los Angeles, according to her son, Darrell Hayden, but was born in Newark, N.J., on July 4, 1924. Eventually, her family moved to Euclid Avenue and Adams Place in Delmar, and she attended four years at Bethlehem Central High School, graduating in 1942. At some point, the Saints also relocated to a house on Western Avenue in Albany.

In Laurence Leamer’s 2023 book “Hitchcock’s Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director’s Dark Obsession,” the author details a Capital Region childhood with her father, a traveling tire salesman for B. F. Goodrich, and her mother, a former teacher who gave it up to be a full-time mother and wife. “The highlight of the day was the evening meal, when the family sat down together,” Leamer writes.

In his book’s final chapter, Leamer tells of a then 99-year-old Saint living mostly by herself in a luxury Wilshire Boulevard apartment last year, where she was frequently visited by nearby daughter, Laurette, four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and her son. He also describes how, during the pandemic, the actress, well into her 90s, acted online in several plays with the likes of Annette Bening, Marisa Tomei, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Hayden said via email when reached for this story: “I will definitely wish Mom a Happy 100th from the Capital Region of New York!”

After graduating from high school — where she was known by the nickname “Bubbles” — she followed in her older sister Adelaide’s footsteps and attended Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Her parents left the area as well, moving to Bryn Mawr, Pa. She got her degree and headed for New York City to study at Lee Strasberg’s famous Actors Studio. She then booked many roles on radio and the nascent medium of television.

It took another several years until she landed on Broadway, this time in Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful.” The show wasn’t a hit and ran only a month, but the producers of the upcoming movie “On the Waterfront” saw it and offered her a major role. She made her film debut in the all-time classic opposite Marlon Brando in 1954 and nabbed the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. At the ceremony, the very pregnant Saint started her acceptance speech by joking she might have the baby right there and then. Indeed, she gave birth to Darrell two days later. Today, she holds the record as the oldest living Oscar winner.

Her career was on the upswing from there. She followed the Best Picture winner with parts in “That Certain Feeling,” “A Hatful of Rain,” “Raintree County,” Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest,” “Exodus,” “The Sandpiper,” “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” and others. From the 1970s through 1990s, she concentrated more on TV work, winning an Emmy for the 1990 Dominick Dunne miniseries, “People Like Us.”

Throughout her acting career, Saint balanced out her film and television work with taking time for her family, not working on more than one film a year. She met her husband, aspiring director Jeffrey Hayden, in 1949, when, according to a 2003 interview in Closer, they saw each other on a subway and he was intrigued by a modeling book she was carrying that had her name in gold letters across the bottom. They married in 1951 and were together until his death in 2016 from cancer at the age of 90.

Pre-stardom, Saint made quite the splash in the years she was a Capital Region resident, at least as far as newspaper references count. Her first mention in the Times Union was on May 22, 1940, in a preview of an upcoming fashion show, then again on May 28, while as a sophomore in high school, she modeled in the show at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Elsmere. She is also featured in the accompanying photograph.

As she began her senior year, the Saint sisters were in a standalone photo on Sept. 8, 1941, representing members of Albany’s “attractive younger set.” Saint was in the May 19, 1942, edition, with another photo, announcing her election as permanent secretary of Bethlehem Central High’s graduating class. She was singled out as the maid of honor for her sister’s upcoming wedding in the Feb. 11, 1946, issue of the Times Union.

By 1953, the Times Union was reporting on the former area resident’s now-rising acting career. It mentioned “The Trip to Bountiful” and “On the Waterfront,” and quoted movie producer Sam Spiegel calling her “the most exciting young actress of the year.” The paper also took note that Saint had only appeared in one production while in high school, as an angel in a Christmas pageant.

The Times Union’s one-time sister newspaper, the defunct Knickerbocker News, has mentions of Eva Marie Saint going back even further. The Oct. 27, 1937, edition lists the 13-year-old as one of the refreshment servers during a tribute to the Rev. Ruel C. Howe. On Dec. 8 of the same year, the Knick included her as violinist in Bethlehem Central High’s annual Christmas concert.

Bethlehem Town Historian William Ketzer sent over several photographs they have in their archives, mostly of Saint’s high school cheerleader career. Ketzer relates the tale of how Saint’s English teacher and dramatics instructor wouldn’t allow her to act in the school play because “she wasn’t talented enough.” He said the story was confirmed for him by a Delmar native who asked the teacher about it in her later years. The teacher allegedly acknowledged she was wrong and said she would “never live that down.”

Recent interviews include a 2023 story in The Spotlight that recalls the 2006 talk Saint did with CBS producer John Yacobian as part of an application to nominate her as one of Bethlehem Central High School’s notable alumni. It was filled with fond memories and stories from her childhood in Delmar.

The Wall Street Journal ran an article in 2018 about Saint’s life before she rocketed to stardom with “On the Waterfront.” She talked about her strong connection to the nature and outdoors while living in the Capital Region. She echoed these thoughts in a 2023 revisit with Yacobian, where she talked of exploring the nearby woods, regularly visiting the Normanskill Creek, taking family picnics to Thacher Park and hanging out at a popular drug store at Delmar’s Four Corners with her fellow high school students, sitting at the counter and enjoying sundaes.

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