EVA MARIE SAINT, OSCAR-WINNING ACTRESS, DIES AGED 102

Eva Marie Saint, the Oscar-winning actress best known for On the Waterfront and North by Northwest, has died at the age of 102. A family representative, Jeff Sanderson, confirmed she died on Tuesday of natural causes, surrounded by family and loved ones at her home in Los Angeles. Saint won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her film debut in Elia Kazan's 1954 crime thriller On the Waterfront, in which she played Edie Doyle opposite Marlon Brando. Five years later, she starred as Eve Kendall in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest alongside Cary Grant. She also won an Emmy in 1990 for her role as a wealthy widow in the television miniseries People Like Us.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Saint had originally planned to become a teacher before turning to theatre. She trained at the Herbert Berghof Studio and later at the Actors Studio in New York, the method-acting school co-founded by Kazan. She described Brando, her co-star on On the Waterfront, as "adorable" but "a little frightening", telling Turner Classic Movies in a 2013 interview that "I felt that he could see right through me." She was considered an unexpected choice to play one of what were then known as "Hitchcock's blondes" in North by Northwest. She said Grant, known for being demanding of his leading ladies, "worked with me from the outside in", attending closely to her hair, makeup and wardrobe.

Saint's career spanned seven decades across film and television following her breakthrough in the mid-1950s. Her Academy Award for On the Waterfront came in her very first screen role, establishing her as a leading figure of that era of Hollywood. News of her death was confirmed by her family's representative, with no further details given on funeral or memorial arrangements.