Born 04th July 1924. She was in On the Waterfront (1954) and North by Northwest (1959).
Saint is both the oldest living and earliest surviving Academy Award-winner, and one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
Hope she gets there.
shareI sure hope that she makes it to 100! Its very close now.
I think that will make Eva Marie Saint the oldest of the still living actresses who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock movies.
But...there is quite a little "pack" of still living actresses who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock movies. Mostly in their 90s, two in their 80s:
Kim Novak(from Vertigo): in her 90s
Vera Miles (from The Wrong Man and Psycho): in her 90's (and unseen in public in over 20 years -- Novak and Saint used to make appearances somewhat recently, but not so much anymore.)
Tippi Hedren(from The Birds and Marnie): in her 90s
and:
Julie Andrews(from Torn Curtain) : in her 80s.
and:
Diane Baker (from Marnie): in her 80s.
Some remarkable longevity amongst these Hitchcock actresses, that's for sure.
Saint - 99
Miles - 94
Hedren - 94
Novak - 91
For reference Marilyn Monroe was born 2 years after Saint and 3 years before Miles. It's odd to think she could have hypothetically still been alive in the present, her death in 1962 at just 36 years of age has rendered her 'forever young' and an icon from a bygone era. Miles was born in 1929... as were Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, two others that it's odd to hypothetically picture in the present.
That's impressive. Grace Kelly died fairly young, but she died in a car accident, not of natural causes. Sad.
shareThanks for the actual "numbers" on those ages.
It is true...starting with a group of women born "around the same time," some are still here but some were taken decades ago , far too young.
On the male side of things, I often like to pick the birth year of 1930 for these guys:
All were born in 1930:
Steve McQueen
Sean Connery
Clint Eastwood
Gene Hackman
Of those:
McQueen "died young"(age 50 of cancer) all the way back in 1980 (this almost makes him the Marilyn Monroe of the group.)
Connery made it to 90 and died "recently" in 2020.
Gene Hackman is fully retired, currently 94, and sometimes photographed in his retirement town of Santa Fe New Mexico.
Clint Eastwood is NOT retired, ALSO currently 94 and has just finished directing a movie. He actually starred in a movie , over the title, in his 90s(Cry Macho) and has not ruled out starring again in something.
Same birthdate, different lifespans, different levels of activity...
I think Eastwood might be retiring from directing. I read somewhere that his most recent is his last movie as a director.
His longevity has been impressive.
I think Eastwood might be retiring from directing. I read somewhere that his most recent is his last movie as a director.
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Yes, I think I read that somewhere too. He is certainly entitled at his age! (This new one is a drama thriller about a juror on a murder trial, I've read.)
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His longevity is impressive.
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He hasn't ACTED much in the past 20 years. He did The Mule at age 88 and then did Cry Macho(above the title) at age 91. The Mule worked better as a movie(with cartel suspense and a few naked ladies hanging around the old man) but with Cry Macho he made screen history: appearing over the title as a star past age 90. Some actors like Eli Wallach and Ernest Borgnine had taken roles in their 90s, but not as the leading men.
And consider:
Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman are about the same age (94) but Hackman quit movies entirely 20 years ago! His final film was Welcome to Mooseport in 2004. In 2004, Eastwood starred in and directed Million Dollar Baby and won Best Picture and Director honors(again, as he had with Unforgiven.) And Eastwood has kept working since then. Hackman stayed retired, though he said, somewhere along the way "I suppose I could make one more movie if they make it in my living room, with a couple of other people." Ha.
And this: both Gene Hackman and Jack Nicholson (a "baby" at age 87) retired with rather poor movies as their last: Welcome to Mooseport for Hackman; How Do You Know for Nicholson. If only Hackman had stopped with The Royal Tennenbaums. If only Jack had stopped with The Departed.
Meanwhile, and on topic: Here's Eva Marie Saint prepped to hit that big 100 ahead of all the folks mentioned above. By all reports a very nice woman and still quite sharp. May she live long!
And this: both Gene Hackman and Jack Nicholson (a "baby" at age 87) retired with rather poor movies as their last: Welcome to Mooseport for Hackman; How Do You Know for Nicholson. If only Hackman had stopped with The Royal Tennenbaums. If only Jack had stopped with The Departed.
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I wonder how many stars are lucky enough to bow out with a great film or at least a good one? I find that's rare.
And this: both Gene Hackman and Jack Nicholson (a "baby" at age 87) retired with rather poor movies as their last: Welcome to Mooseport for Hackman; How Do You Know for Nicholson. If only Hackman had stopped with The Royal Tennenbaums. If only Jack had stopped with The Departed.
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I wonder how many stars are lucky enough to bow out with a great film or at least a good one? I find that's rare.
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Hi elizabethjoestar:
Rare, indeed...
Two major ones come to mind:
John Wayne in The Shootist(1976.) Playing an aging gunfighter dying of cancer -- when he WAS dying of cancer(folks say he wasn't diagnosed as such when he made the movie, but he HAD had it, and he got it AGAIN, and never made another movie, and died in 1979. These cells start early. So he WAS dying of cancer...just not diagnsed and irreversible yet.) Gary Cooper and Humphrey Bogart were two other actors who started dying long before the years that they officially died.
Wayne got that "perfect" role(directed by Don "Dirty Harry" Siegel) evidently only after Paul Newman and Gene Hackman said no. George C. Scott said "yes" -- but was bumped for John Wayne ! This same thing happened to Scott on "The Cowboys" -- and both were great late Wayne films. Had Wayne not gotten The Shootist, his last films would have been minor indeed -- McQ, Brannigan, Rooster Cogburn(a poor sequel to True Grit and quasi remake of The African Queen -- with a now very old Kate Hepburn aboard.)
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Meanwhile, in 1981, Henry Fonda got HIS perfect final role: On Golden Pond. Lots of perks to THAT one: his first and only competitive Best Actor Oscar(right at the end, his last film -- Wayne couldn't pull THAT off), his one role opposite daughter Jane, his one role(I think) opposite Kate Hepburn and -- a hit. Otherwise, Fonda's final role might have been "Tentacles." an Italian Jaws ripoff.
Sean Connery retired 17 years before he died. Evidently as with Hackman and Nicholson, Connery just decided not to try for a BETTER final film. His was "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," and the behind the scenes tyro producers evidently drove him to quit movies forever. I didn't think it was that bad. The 14-year old in me(who has never left, movie-wise) dug the idea of a team of heroes led by Connery's Alan Quartermain and with Captain Nemo, The Invisible Man, Dorian Gray, that vampire woman, Captain Nemo and a grown-up Tom Sawyer on the team. Fairly fun movie IMHO. But the End of Sean.
Hackman's final film is actually OK -- I think its the TITLE "Welcome to Mooseport" that sounds like a final loser. The comedy premise was fine: retired US President Hackman runs for Mayor of his small town and comes up against a local guy(Ray Romano) who starts to ...get better polling numbers, might win. So the Prez brings in top national advisers like Rip Torn. A perfectly funny little comedy with Hackman playing a somewhat less venal President than his killer in "Agsolute Power."
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As for Jack, he THOUGHT he was doing the right thing, working for old buddy James L Brooks -- the man who had helped Jack win Oscars for Terms of Endearment and As Good As it Gets. But How Will You Know was just a lousy movie, start to finish, with a poor st story, rather weak young leads(Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd) and only a small (and villainous) role for Jack -- who was back to an overly overweight size. He checked out for good(though he hasn't really said he's retired yet.)
James Cagney SEEMED go to go out with a great role in a good Billy Wilder comedy -- One Two Three. He retired in 1961. But he CAME BACK an entire 20 years later, to do an effective short part in the prestige "Ragtime" which showed his age. Then he did ONE MORE thing...a TV movie, and that wasn't very good at all. He should have stopped with One Two Three.
Cary Grant chose HIS final film -- the just-OK Walk Don't Run(1966) and retired YOUNG (at 62) and lived to 82. Key to this final film was that Grant played a 60-something MATCHMAKER to a young couple(Tim Hutton and Samantha Eggar) and it seemed wrong. He maybe should have quite one film earlier(the funny romance Father Goose with Leslie Caron) or -- BEST -- TWO films earlier(Charade with Audrey Hepburn -- and Walter Matthau, James Coburn, and George Kennedy in support.)
I dunno. I guess I could go on, but its really the Wayne and Fonda movies that were "perfect" final films.
Looks like Eva Marie Saint's last on-screen role was in 2019 (90 someething?) and you have to go back to 2006 and Superman Returns to find her in a major movie. But she has always worked in SOMETHING (animated, podcasts) til recently.