Happy Centennial Birthday, Eva Marie Saint!

Today is a very happy day, the centennial birthday of actress Eva Marie Saint.

Saint was born in New Jersey on July 4, 1924.

Favorite Saint films include her Oscar-winning role in ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), seen above on the set...

...and Alfred Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959). I'm very fortunate to have tickets to see the new 70mm restoration of this film next week.

Other favorite Saint roles over the years include the TV-movie A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER (1978) with Jason Robards and the wonderful miniseries A YEAR IN THE LIFE (1986) with Richard Kiley. Saint is seen above in a publicity still for A YEAR IN THE LIFE.

I've been fortunate to see Saint in person a couple of times over the years, including in 2014 when, at age 90, she displayed remarkable wit and spryness hosting an evening of Hitchcock film music at the Hollywood Bowl...

...and in 2013 when she and Ben Mankiewicz introduced ON THE WATERFRONT at the TCM Classic Film Festival. (Cell phone picture quality wasn't the same over a decade ago!)

I also saw her in person at a panel discussion honoring the late TCM host Robert Osborne at a screening of DODSWORTH (1935) in 2019. Above is an official TCM photo of Osborne and Saint recording an interview special at the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival.

Update: I forgot to mention that I also saw her perform opposite Henry Fonda in the play THE FIRST MONDAY IN OCTOBER in the late '70s!

Very appropriately, given her long friendship with the network, this month TCM is honoring Saint as the network's Star of the Month.

Happiest birthday wishes to a wonderful lady!

Additional Eva Marie Saint reviews: THE STALKING MOON (1968) and THE MACAHANS (1976).

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