Heroines of several cult films often find themselves to be as functional as furniture
of the shooting set and later on screen. Eva Marie Saint who passed away at 102 never conformed to this pattern.
A glamour girl who oozed histrionic talent was indeed an exception by Hollywood standards. Saint was carrying her first child, when she picked up her first Oscar.
Stardom beckoned. But she decided to do only one movie each year while her two children were growing up.
Saint later said that she had turned down a three-picture deal which her agent said would make her a “superstar”. Raising her family was always the first priority for her.
This was quite at variance with her screen image. Saint won an academy award for shy love interest of Marlon Brando On the Waterfront.
It was her debut. Arguably she would be best remembered as the stylish siren opposite Cary Grant in the Hitchcock thriller North By Northwest.
Two of the biggest names of Bollywood, screen performances of both Brando and Grant left little space for their co-actors. But Saint was never a person to go unnoticed, be it on screen or a party.
On the Waterfront boasted a most impressive cast.It remains near the top of American Film Institute’s list of the country’s greatest films.
On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan fetched the best actor award for Brando. But it was a risky assignment for Saint portraying a convent educated girl Edie, simmering with passion for Terry Malloy, a critical role in which Brando enacted the role of a former prize fighter moonlighting as a muscle for a corrupt union.
Edie discovers Terry had a hand in the murder of her brother who had recently run foul of the union. She plays a critical role waking Malloy’s conscience.
On the Waterfront and North By Northwest apart, most of Saint’s screen performances were intensely dramatic. Be it the steadfast wife of a drug addict in A Hatful of Rain or a childhood sweetheart who loses Montgomery Clift to Elizabeth Taylor in Raintree Country, to name a few, she shone in all of them.
